Taiwan oil millet is more nutritious than rice and wheat, drought-resistant, salt-tolerant, and every part of the plant can be used

With the whole world under the shadow of the novel coronavirus, the food crisis that agricultural and food experts have warned about for years has arrived at the gates. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which recently stated on its official website, "The world is facing a looming food crisis, and measures must be taken as soon as possible to maintain the global food supply chain and reduce the impact of the pandemic on food systems, otherwise the worst situation will emerge in April and May."

This is no alarmist talk. Vietnam, the world's third-largest rice exporter, once proposed suspending rice exports; Kazakhstan, the world's largest exporter of wheat flour, has banned wheat flour exports and also restricted exports of root vegetables such as onions, potatoes and carrots. Once countries adopt various measures to halt the supply of food sources, this will seriously affect the future. If the pandemic continues to worsen without easing, combined with climate change already underway, countries must be more proactive in finding solutions to a possible food crisis.

At such a moment, Taiwan oil millet, a crop able to withstand harsh land conditions such as drought, cold and salinization and called a "super future food," is being planted separately by the Kaohsiung Agricultural Improvement Station and Bunun farmer Chiu Kuei-chun of Yanping Township, Taitung; on the other hand, research institutions such as the Academia Sinica have also launched a new wave of oil millet research programs; and commercial applications of oil millet are being pursued on multiple fronts, awaiting a full-scale breakout when the conditions are ripe.