Tainan honey dates continue to be exported to Japan, surpassing last year's total sales

Tainan honey dates have entered the harvest season, with 2,500 boxes, about 6.2 tonnes, of honey date gift boxes being collected in Nanxi District, Tainan City, the production area, and are expected to be shipped by air in mid-February to seize the high-end Japanese market. To celebrate Tainan honey dates continuing to be exported to Japan and surpassing last year's total sales, on January 31 a "Tainan Honey Dates GO GO JAPAN" press conference was specially held, where Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che, Director-General of the Agriculture and Food Agency Hu Chung-yi, and Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen together experienced the process of honey dates from selection to packaging and shelving, and cheered together for the pride of Tainan!

Mayor Huang Wei-che said that in order to establish a production and marketing system and stabilize supply, the city government guides farmers to adopt a collective production area business model, while introducing excellent varieties and cultivation management techniques, and guides production units to use marketing channels for contract farming and contract sales, hoping to improve the production and marketing operational efficiency of Tainan City's agricultural products. Although Tainan is not the main production area for honey dates, with a planting area accounting for only 14% of all Taiwan, their quality is stable, crisp and sweet, making them a hot-selling product that Taiwan's direct sales market competes to order as a holiday gift. In addition to strong domestic demand, Tainan honey dates' export market breaks records year after year. He also thanked the public and private sectors for working together to promote domestic and export sales of agricultural products, enabling farmers to have good returns and allowing consumers to eat high-CP-value agricultural fruit and spend a safe and healthy good year.

Hsieh Yao-ching, Director-General of the Tainan City Agriculture Bureau, pointed out that because Japan's pesticide testing for exports is very strict, production records must be attached and it must be confirmed that there are no pests or diseases before loading and shipment, so the dates are first sent to the Jienong Cooperative Farm for continuous 14-day cold storage quarantine treatment at 1.2°C. Farmer Hsieh Ming-shu originally worked at a shipyard and switched to agriculture many years ago with success. In the 107th year of the Republic of China, he won the 31st Shennong Award, and his date orchard also obtained the "Global G.A.P." (Global Good Agricultural Practice) certification, a quality management certification system with international credibility for agricultural production management, thus opening up international channels.