Taiwanese will no longer have to wait until summer to buy passion fruit at local markets, thanks to lighting technology developed by a government-run agricultural technology research facility in southern Taiwan.
Passion fruit farming totals 809 hectares, including 604 hectares in Nantou County, mainly in Puli Township (埔里).
With the harvest lasting from July to September, the sweet seed-filled fruit is only available in markets from July to January the following year, the Council of Agriculture said.
Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station via CNA
However, starting this year, the tropical fruit would be available all year, the council’s Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station told a news conference in Taipei on Tuesday.
Over the past three years, the station has instructed orchard operators in Kaohsiung, Tainan and Pingtung County on how to grow passion fruit in mesh houses, using artificial lighting as a substitute for sunlight, the station said.
Thanks to illumination adjustment technology developed by the station, and its know-how in orchard preparation and mesh house pollination techniques, passion fruit growers in the south are able to pick ripe fruit from February to June, before their counterparts in Puli begin their harvests in July, it said.
“Technological research and development allows Taiwan to harvest passion fruit even in the spring,” the station said.
An estimated 100 hectares of the new “spring passion fruit” have been planted in Kaohsiung and Pingtung, with an expected annual output of 2,000 tonnes, data from the station showed.
Growers of spring passion fruit begin to prepare the soil and plant seedlings in September and October, but with the aid of artificial lighting, they are able to harvest from February to June the following year, said Lee Wen-hao (李文豪), an assistant researcher at the research station.
This also ensures the harvest is not affected by typhoons and monsoon rainfall, which are most prevalent from July to September in Taiwan, he said.
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