Under-forest economies nationwide generated output of more than NT$150 million (US$4.85 million) over the past six years, and, as of this year, 28 farmers’ products had been granted certifications, the Ministry of Agriculture’s (MOA) Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said yesterday.
The under-forest economy development program was launched in 2019, encouraging forest farmers to use woodlands to generate “forest dividends,” Forestry and Forest Industry Division technical specialist Chen Mei-hui (陳美惠) said.
Farmers are required to refrain from using artificial fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, and maintain the landscape and functions of the vegetation in their under-forest economies, she said.
Photo: screen grab from the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency Web site
To ensure product safety and quality, the ministry in July last year established the certification system, Chen said, adding that 28 of the 46 applicants have been certified.
As of this month, the total planting area was more than 5 hectares and it has generated more than NT$150 million in output value over the past six years, she added.
Under-forest farmers’ efforts to take care of their farmland would also help protect natural environments, Chen said, adding that about 873.71 hectares of forests are benefiting from under-forest economies.
Ten under-forest agricultural products have been approved: log-cultivated shiitake mushrooms, black fungi, marbled jewel orchids, beekeeping products, native teas, flaccid conehead, Taiwan fig trees, bamboo fungi, Taiwan ground orchids and fiveleaf gynostemma herbs, she said.
Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said about 100 more items, such as Taiwanese native plants or traditional indigenous crops, would be incorporated into the program from next year.
Intensive farming cannot be introduced to forest environments, and under-forest economies might not bring much profit in the short term, but they help promote the coprosperity of humans and nature in the long term, he said.
Most under-forest economies are small-scale, with few farmers, so it is difficult to establish an agricultural production and marketing group to apply for governmental subsidies or bonuses for their products, Lin said.
The certification system was set up to allow farmers to receive an annual NT$30,000 subsidy for three years, in line with the organic subsidy scheme, he said.
Lee Ching-liang (李清亮), a log-cultivated shiitake mushroom farmer in Taitung County’s Donghe Township (東河), said he engaged in the business on the agency’s advice and took a training program on under-forest economies.
Lee said he has about 25 hectares of woodlands for under-forest operations, adding that he aims to acquire more land and combine his under-forest economy with the carbon credit market.
Hsieh Kuo-hua (謝國華), who has been cultivating native teas for more than two decades in Kaohsiung’s Taoyuan District (桃源), said his tea trees are trimmed occasionally to ensure a partial sun environment, which help tea leaves synthesize more nutrients.
Most of his tea trees grow taller every year, he said.
“If one day they grow too tall to climb, we would end the business and let them become a native tea forest,” Hsieh said.
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