Uncrewed quadcopters are being tested as dusters on tea farms in the Wuhe (舞鶴) area of Haulien County’s Ruisui Township (瑞穗), the Council of Agriculture said on Wednesday.
It is cooperating on the pilot project with the Corporate Synergy Development Center, the council said.
The project is part of the government’s effort to facilitate the upgrade of tea plantations to produce black oolong tea in middle and low-altitude regions in eastern Taiwan, the Taitung branch of the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau said.
Photo: CNA
The statement came after workers demonstrated the use of drones in Wuhe to 34 local farmers earlier that day.
To fly the drones, farmers would have to obtain aviation and agrochemical use certifications, Hualien Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Development Association president Huang Ye-ping (黃冶平) said.
The government is providing subsidies for agricultural drones through a program that seeks to encourage farmers to use labor-saving technology, Agriculture and Food Agency Eastern District Deputy Director Chen Chi-tsun (陳吉村) said.
So far, only three such drones are in use in the district, which encompasses Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties, he said, urging better promotion of the subsidies.
Eligible for subsidies are members of registered farmer’s cooperatives who use drones that meet performance requirements and are made in a country other than China, he said.
The subsidy covers one-third of their drones’ buying price or NT$200,000 in cash, Chen said, adding that some township offices in eastern Taiwan top up the subsidy with another 10 percent of the drones’ buying price or NT$220,000 in cash.
Gao Chao-hsu (高肇昫), whose farm covers 30 hectares, said that farm hands are hard to find in the current economy.
Drones can be of great help, especially if they are utilized to apply fertilizers and for dew removal, Gao added.
Planters would probably need a transition period to be able to afford the drones, which cost about NT$100,000 per unit, Gao added.
Drones produced by Taiwanese companies have better aftermarket support and do not threaten Taiwan’s national security, said Hsu jung-yu (徐榮域), a local farmer who recently obtained a certificate to operate uncrewed aerial vehicles.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
EVA Airways was ranked the eighth-best airline in the world for this year, the only Taiwanese carrier to make it into the top 25 Airline Excellence Awards this year, aviation reviews Web site AirlineRatings.com said on Wednesday. AirlineRatings.com has a seven-star rating system to evaluate more than 360 airlines around the world every year, EVA Airways said in a statement on Thursday. “We are delighted that efforts by the entire EVA staff have been recognized by Airline Ratings,” EVA Airways president Clay Sun (孫嘉明) said in the release. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company identified and adopted services and procedures that enhance and