A Taiwanese technical mission to the Pacific island nation of Nauru is helping a penal facility improve food self-reliance and is teaching inmates skills they can use after their release, the team said yesterday.
“The project, with the goal of minimizing waste, officially started in January, with a poultry and pig farm to be completed in August,” mission head Daniel Lee (李宜龍) said.
This month, the team is to start building capacity for planting crops, raising livestock, making fertilizer and teaching cooking, Lee said, adding that they would transfer the farm to the Nauruan government at the end of this year or early next year.
Nauru is one of Taiwan’s 15 diplomatic allies.
The pilot penal farm in the nation’s “Topside” area was initiated by Nauruan President Lionel Aingimea with the International Cooperation and Development Fund, which organized the mission, a statement from the fund said.
Aingimea last year requested assistance to start the project through Taiwan Ambassador Dean Wang (王海龍), with the prison seeking to achieve 80 percent food self-sufficiency, as all of its food is imported, the fund said.
Mission horticultural specialist Jo Chan (詹若謙) said that contrary to public perception, it is not dangerous working with inmates because participants are selected based on their good behavior.
“In addition, guards are always on site to monitor the situation,” he added.
Chan said that there were some initial concerns, “but after interacting [with the inmates], we found them to be very friendly and cordial. Perhaps it was because they knew we were there to help them.”
Chan said that he had asked the inmates what crop they would like to learn to grow, and one said mango trees.
“‘It takes three to four years for a mango tree to bear fruit. Do you want to stay in prison that long?’ I said in jest, as the inmate shook his head wildly to the laughter of everyone in the farm,” Chan said.
One of the most difficult situations for the team was digging irrigation channels, as the farm is located on top of bedrock, but the inmates did not complain, despite the blisters and calluses on their hands, he said.
Another challenge was the extreme heat, he said.
It affected the growth of crops, but the team solved that by building shading nets to reduce the plants’ exposure to direct sunlight, Chan said.
The farm has started to supply produce, including eggs and corn, to local schools and a dialysis center, the team said.
Team members have focused on problem solving and looking for innovative ways to increase efficiency, livestock specialist Pedro He (何祈龍) said.
The technical mission would teach the inmates how to prepare nutritious and balanced meals, including Taiwanese dishes, after more crops and vegetables are harvested, along with hogs and chickens, nutrition specialist James Yu (余紹全) said.
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has been investigating nine shell companies working with Prince Holding Group, and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is seeking further prosecution of alleged criminals, a source said yesterday. The nine companies and three Taiwanese nationals were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 14 as Specially Designated Nationals as a result of a US federal court indictment. Prince Holding founder Chen Zhi (陳志) has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding’s suspected forced-labor camps in Cambodia, the indictment says. Intelligence shared between Taiwan,
RSS