Camellia oil farms in the Dananao Plain (大南澳平原) in Yilan County have increased to 17.8 hectares over the past eight years as part of local efforts to promote the “green gold” sector.
Camellia oil, also known as tea seed oil and “Oriental olive oil,” has become popular among Taiwanese after a tainted oil scandal in 2014 that prompted the public to be more vigilant in their oil use.
In 2016, 11 farmers began growing 3,000 oil-seed camellia trees over 5 hectares and obtained the support of a local company named Cha Tzu Tang, which signed a contract with them to purchase their harvests.
Photo courtesy of Yilan County Suao Township’s camellia oil production and marketing group
Cha Tzu Tang purchased their camellia fruit at guaranteed prices to produce camellia oil and assisted in marketing and promotion by developing bath products made from camellia oil.
The profits generated by the camellia oil farms have attracted more farmers to get involved.
The popularity of the product has increased thanks to the quality of the camellia fruit grown by eco-friendly farming methods.
Photo courtesy of Yilan County Suao Township’s camellia oil production and marketing group
The first production and marketing group for camellia oil was set up earlier this month in Yilan County’s Suao Township (蘇澳) after the total area of camellia oil farms in the region exceeded the threshold of 10 hectares, and more than 40 people from the government, academia and industries participated in the founding ceremony, which was a milestone in the nation’s development of the camellia oil industry.
Ten thousand oil-seed camellia trees were planted in the region, with those grown in Jhaoyang Community (朝陽社區) accounting for the biggest portion with more than 6,000 trees covering 11 hectares, projected to yield a camellia fruit harvest of up to 40 tonnes every year.
Chen Yu-ting (陳昱廷), head of Suao Township’s camellia oil production and marketing group, on Saturday said that 20 farmers have joined camellia oil farming in Dananao, and the group would assist them in procuring farm chemicals and machinery, management, and education and training to enhance their production quality.
The group would also continue to cultivate successors of younger generations and introduce mechanized farming methods, to transform the camellia oil-producing region into one of Yilan County’s local features, he said.
Another key issue would be sourcing water due to the impact of rising temperatures, Chen said.
Irrigation routes would be renewed and smart monitoring technology would be introduced to facilitate precision irrigation to cope with extreme weather conditions, while organic accreditations and a traceability system would be implemented to make camellia oil one of Taiwan’s signature oil products, he said.
Suao Township Farmers’ Association chief of staff Huang Tsan-jan (黃燦然) said the township has many agricultural products, such as oranges, cantaloupes, watermelons and chilis that have been the focus of promotion.
As the contractual farming area of oil-seed camellia trees has expanded to more than 17 hectares, the production and marketing group would help communicate with the government on behalf of the farmers to support the industry, expecting to make camellia fruit an important Suao Township cash crop, he said.
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