Volunteers on Saturday helped Hung Wen-chu (洪文居), an 84-year-old taro farmer in Kinmen County’s Lieyu Township (烈嶼), collect his harvest.
The event was organized by the Kinmen Department of Economic Affairs’ Agriculture and Forestry Section.
The agency has been promoting organic and environmentally friendly farming practices in the past few years, but because the methods can affect harvests, some farmers have had reservations, section head Chung Li-wei (鐘立偉) said.
Photo: CNA
Hung does not use pesticides or chemical fertilizers, making his taro field in the Cingci area (青岐) unique, Chung said.
It has dragonflies and birds, while fish swim in a ditch near the field, which means that the field is uncontaminated, he said.
Regular taro fields use chemical fertilizers, which contain high levels of nitrogen, said Hung, who has been growing taros since he was 14.
However, fertilizers only promote excessive leaf growth, so he uses burnt oyster shells to control soil pH levels, Hung said.
Although his plants do not have big leaves, the taros are especially fragrant and tasty, he said.
While in the past he would plant 3,000 seedlings, this year he only planted 1,200 due to the physical toll, he said, adding that in his younger days, he could harvest 500 jin (300kg) of taros per day.
Chung said he had hoped for 20 volunteers, but more than 40 showed up.
They arrived at Lieyu by boat from the main island of Kinmen.
The harvest is to be transported to Taiwan proper, Chung said.
Among the volunteers were National Kinmen Senior High School teacher of physical education Wu Che-yun (吳哲昀), his wife and their children, who are six and two-and-a-half.
If the children ran out of energy, they helped sort the taro or cheered the other workers on, Wu said.
This was her first time harvesting taro, said Wu Yu-hua (吳玉華), who works at the Lieyu Township Administration.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
RSS