Guavas are delicious and headed for export: New immigrant sisters in Jiasian start farming businesses and win back their lives
Guava is highly nutritious and high in fiber, a true health treasure, and starting this year Taiwan's guavas have officially entered the United States market, with promising prospects. Yet many people do not know that part of the famous Yanchao guava brand actually comes from Jiasian, and what is even more special is that among the growers is a group of Southeast Asian sisters. They treat farming as entrepreneurship, and through growing guavas they have won back the right to serve their own lives, overturning society's stereotypes about new immigrants.
Rather than choosing between children and work, be your own boss: "Treat growing guavas as entrepreneurship"
Among the Jiasian new resident sisters, the first to grow guavas was Shen Wenxiang from Cambodia. Both of her children were raised in the guava orchard. She said that when she came to Taiwan in 1998, she could only say two phrases: "husband" and "eat rice."
"There was no choice. Back then the agent said that as long as I learned these two phrases, I could come! Looking back now, I do not know where I found the courage," Wenxiang said with a smile. She now speaks fluent Mandarin and Taiwanese, with almost no accent.
Her husband, who operates construction machinery, often travels elsewhere for work. Wenxiang stays home to care for the family's elders and children, and with children in tow it was not easy to find work. It happened that her husband's uncle was the first farmer in Jiasian to grow guavas, and her aunt-in-law persuaded Wenxiang to give guava growing a try. There was a plot of land behind her husband's family home, and she had a change of heart: "Rather than being torn between children and work, I might as well be my own boss." With a burst of determination, she boldly decided, "I will plant first and figure out the rest later!"
Growing guavas does not only mean harvesting guavas; her two children grew up together with the guava trees
Guavas can be harvested in all four seasons. Only when the fruit sets does it require more labor for bagging; the rest of the management can largely be handled by one person. Gradually renting two fen here and three fen there, Shen Wenxiang once grew as much as two hectares.
"When prices are good, one guava earns ten dollars, and after deducting costs from one hectare, you can still make five or six hundred thousand. But if prices are bad, when it is two or three dollars per jin, forget breaking even, you can even lose money!" she said.
Although it is not guaranteed to be profitable, at least she gained control over her time, allowing her to care for her children while working. The babies could cry whenever they wanted under the shade of the trees, and when they were tired from crying they slept, playing by themselves while she checked on them occasionally. Her two children grew up with the guava trees, and now they have been raised by guavas all the way to university.
Counting on her fingers, Wenxiang has now been growing guavas for exactly twenty years. A little proud and a little embarrassed, she said, "As for skill, I can only say it is still just so-so!"
Wenxiang still grows guavas now, but has reduced the area and handed management to her husband. She has opened a restaurant on the main street called Haoyang Kitchen to promote Cambodian food, and occasionally goes out to do catering. Through diverse entrepreneurial methods, she gives full play to her expertise and also adds color to Jiasian.
There is nothing in the mountains but land; if you do not want to leave, you must find a way to survive
The opportunity for the Jiasian sisters' guava team to grow came from Typhoon Morakot in 2009. After the disaster, Jiasian had fewer and fewer tourists, restaurants and hotels closed one after another, and the jobs that originally involved waiting tables in restaurants and doing housekeeping in hotels became fewer and fewer. Facing the reality of scarce work after the disaster, the sisters turned their eyes to guavas.
"Seeing Wenxiang growing them, I thought that as long as I was willing to learn and work, maybe I could do it too!" Su Meiyu, also from Cambodia, also introduced her younger sister to marry into Taiwan. Having once served as chairperson of the Southeast Asian Sisters Association, she spoke frankly: "Because there is nothing in the mountains but land, after the typhoon disaster, if you do not leave, you have to find a way to survive!"
Lona, from the Philippines, worked in a hotel before the disaster. After the disaster, she first sorted grades at a guava collection site. Seeing how truly hard farming was under the hot sun, her love of beauty made her unwilling to let her fair skin turn dark, and she thought to herself: "I would rather die than farm under the hot sun."
Under the choice between economic pressure and time autonomy, Meiyu, Meifang, and Lona, one sister after another, this group of guava-growing sisters grew larger day by day. Most of them each cultivate about one hectare, and there are now more than a dozen of them, with the planted area approaching twenty hectares.
Mutual support: the sisters form their own guava labor-exchange team, growing guavas for themselves and for others
The sisters learned and grew under pressure, supported one another in life, and even brought the power of community to guava growing. Once the guavas were planted, during slack farming periods they went to help in other people's guava orchards. From how to manage a guava orchard, how to apply fertilizer, to what to pay attention to when using pesticides, they gritted their teeth, learned on the spot, and supported one another.
"Today, when farming is slack, I go help with the work. When my busy season comes and I need to bag fruit, you come help me," Su Meiyu said. The lively atmosphere of the sisters' flexible unity and mutual aid seemed also to stir the mountain farmers who had originally been used to working alone.
This group of willing and eager-to-learn "new residents" quickly received praise. Seeing their earnest and proactive attitude toward work, guava farmers were happy to pass on their techniques without reservation. Guava is a major agricultural product in Jiasian, with more than half the farmers in the township growing it. The sisters' participation provided farmers with a diligent labor team that had mastered the techniques, easing the labor shortage.
Related Articles
- How to prevent and control rabies in dogs? Timely vaccination of puppies ensures safety
- How to Explore Keelung's Fishing Port Docks? Practical Tips for Picking Fresh Seafood
- The Slow Food movement advocates that how you eat matters more than what you eat, helping you eat your way to health
- How to Identify Inferior Cooking Oil? Key Points for Quality Control from Cultivation to Purchase
- Which agricultural activities require tax payment? The ranch court case clarifies the boundary of tax exemption
- Ractopamine, a lean meat agent, is banned; scientific pig farming to increase lean meat percentage is the right path
- Horizontal Windbreak Nets for Welsh Onion Cultivation in Winter Reduce Losses
- Top Ten Fungicides Ranking Released, a Useful Reference for Farmers Choosing Products