Sat, Jan 10, 2026 page3

• Farmers advised to step up protection of crops from cold

  • By Esme Yeh / Staff reporter
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  The Agriculture and Food Agency yesterday called on farmers to enhance measures to protect crops as the effects of a cold air mass and radiative cooling continued to affect the nation.

  Farmers are advised to refrain from planting rice seedlings during the cold surge and set up cold barriers around rice seedling nurseries, it said.

  Non-woven or plastic cloth can be used to shield growing seedlings from cold, but water pooling on the cloth must be promptly removed to prevent frost damage, it said.

  

  A Central Weather Administration chart shows the weather forecast for the next week. The red line indicates Taipei, the yellow line indicates Taichung, the blue line represents Tainan and the green line represents Hualien.

  Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Administration

  For coarse grain crops, filling furrows with water aside from covering the crops with plastic cloth or rice straw can maintain a relatively warm temperature, the agency said.

  Tea plants could be affected by cold temperatures although most of them have entered winter dormancy, it said, adding that cold protection techniques like anti-frost fans are recommended to reduce cold damage.

  Vegetables or melons that are less resistant to cold weather should be covered with nonwoven cloth or rice straws, or surrounded with windbreaks or plastic fabric, it said.

  Vegetables that are mature enough can be harvested early to minimize economic losses, it added.

  Flowers can be protected from cold via furrow irrigation or plastic covers as well as plastic greenhouses, while potassium-rich fertilizers can be used to increase their cold-resistance, it said.

  Fruit bagging and tree trunk wrapping are recommended to protect fruit trees against cold, while potassium-rich fertilizers can be applied to fruit trees during flowering periods, the agency said.

  Fruits at their maturity stage, especially wax apples, citrus fruits, sugar apples, jujubes and papayas, should be promptly harvested, it said.

  Pear tree buds that were recently grafted are more prone to cold injuries and should be wrapped in plastic bags after they are grafted or pollinated to protect them against chilly winds, it said.

  Fruit trees damaged by cold temperatures must be trimmed to remove the affected branches and leaves, it added.

  Agricultural workers can take photos of their damaged crops to apply for relief funds from local town or township offices, the agency said.

  The submitted claims must contain dates the photographs were taken, damage conditions, and location information, such as adjacent fields, background features or satellite positioning data, it added.

  The Ministry of Agriculture has developed an Agricultural Natural Disaster On-site Photograph app, which can identify users’ location and photograph agricultural losses for uploading to the ministry’s database, the agency added.

  Uploaded photos of fields that local township offices assess to have suffered agricultural losses of 20 percent or more can be approved for relief payments without additional on-site inspection, it said.

  According to the Central Weather Administration, cold conditions persisted across the nation yesterday, with temperatures falling below 6oC in parts of Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Hsinchu County, the agency said.

  In most other regions, temperatures briefly dipped below 10oC, except in Taitung, Pingtung, and the offshore counties of Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu), it added.

  Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said another cold wave would keep chilly conditions in place over the weekend.

  From Monday morning through Thursday, sunny skies would prevail during the daytime as the cold air gradually weakens, he said.

  However, he warned of large daytime-nighttime temperature swings, as enhanced radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from the ground into the atmosphere, could lead to low temperatures at night and in the early morning.

  Additional reporting by CNA
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