Two cold waves deal heavy blow to wax apples in Kaohsiung-Pingtung and milkfish in Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan: agricultural losses reach 94 million

Cold waves have come one after another, with agricultural and fishery losses reported across the region, and wax apples and milkfish the worst affected! The Council of Agriculture has announced that wax apples in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung area and milkfish raised together with hard clams in Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan meet the cash relief standards for natural disasters, with relief of 90,000 yuan per hectare for wax apples and 9,000 yuan per hectare for milkfish ponds with mixed hard clam culture.

The Agriculture and Food Agency said that in addition to wax apples and milkfish, agricultural losses have also been reported for cabbage, heading cabbage, tomatoes and muskmelons. Because cold damage to crops is delayed, the damage often only gradually becomes apparent after the cold wave ends, the sun comes out and temperatures rise. The Agriculture and Food Agency urged farmers who find damage appearing to report it to their local township office as soon as possible.

Total agricultural losses across Taiwan from the two cold waves exceed 90 million, with Pingtung wax apples the worst hit

As of 11 a.m. today (the 11th), the Council of Agriculture's statistics show that agricultural losses across Taiwan exceed 94.35 million yuan, with Pingtung the most severely affected at 64.8 million yuan (68.6%), followed by Yunlin at 16.12 million yuan (17%), while fishery losses in Changhua and Tainan City ranked next.

In terms of crops, wax apple losses reached 65.6 million yuan and muskmelon losses 7.86 million yuan. In addition, the total damaged fishery area reached 630 hectares, with total losses of 26.78 million yuan. The main fishery species damaged were mainly milkfish, tilapia, barramundi, giant grouper and freshwater prawns raised together in hard clam ponds.

Wax apples in the Kaohsiung and Pingtung areas have suffered severe fruit drop, with relief of 90,000 yuan per hectare

The agriculture section of the Fangliao Township Office in Pingtung County said that last week temperatures in Fangliao dropped to 12 °C, but wax apples must grow at above 18 °C. The low temperatures caused severe fruit drop and fruit cracking, and even fruit still hanging on the trees showed browning and sunken peel or deformed fruit, affecting future selling prices.

During the cold wave, more than 600 kg of wax apples had already dropped from the orchard of Linbian Township farmer Chen Hung-yuan. He said helplessly that only 10 to 20 percent of the wax apples still hanging on the trees could be harvested, and he would apply to the township office for relief on a later date. Gong Ruei-long, section chief of the tourism and agricultural economics section of the Linbian Township Office, pointed out that township office staff worked at full speed over the weekend and have already completed the acceptance of relief applications for 151 hectares and reported them to the Council of Agriculture; funds will be allocated once on-site inspection confirms there are no problems.