Coffee becomes a new agricultural product for Fuxing's revival; production and marketing group hopes for small-scale processing plants
As coffee drinking grows in popularity, Taoyuan encourages farmers to grow coffee, rolling out coffee planting subsidies this year, with the Fuxing District Farmers' Association the most active in guiding farmers to plant coffee. Yang Rongsheng, head of the second group of the Fuxing District Special Crop Coffee Production and Marketing Group, said this afternoon that many members of the coffee production and marketing group began growing coffee last year, with large-scale output expected the year after next, but so far there is a lack of small-scale coffee post-processing plants, and he hopes relevant authorities will help promote this and drive the development of Taoyuan's coffee industry.
At present, Fuxing District has the largest coffee planting area in Taoyuan, with coffee also grown in Guishan, Daxi, Pingzhen, Zhongli, Longtan, Luzhu and Bade Districts, covering a total area of about 11 hectares. Lin Kailiang, section chief of the Agriculture Bureau's Agricultural Affairs Section, said this year's coffee planting guidance program provides a subsidy of 20,000 yuan per hectare for new plantings in the first year and 20,000 yuan per hectare in maintenance costs for the following two years, to encourage farmers to invest and drive development in the various leisure agriculture areas.
Huang Chaohuang, director of the Extension Department of the Fuxing District Farmers' Association, said farmers in Fuxing District were the first to grow coffee, and coffee planting is currently concentrated in Kuihui, Yisheng and Luofu. Last year the farmers' association guided the establishment of the second group of the Fuxing District Special Crop Coffee Production and Marketing Group to promote coffee planting among farmers in the district, making it one of Fuxing's characteristic crops.
Yang Rongsheng said the coffee production and marketing group currently has about 31 members, with two-thirds joining coffee cultivation last year. Coffee planting in Fuxing District is still distributed in the front mountain area of Fuxing, and the group mainly grows Arabica varieties. Large-scale coffee output is expected the year after next. At present, production is mostly handled by two generations of coffee farmers, but since the coffee farmers are all smallholders working independently, he hopes city government authorities will help promote the establishment of small-scale coffee post-processing plants to handle coffee dehulling, bean sorting and roasting, and develop the coffee industry.