Alishan wasabi cultivation sparks controversy: can flatland plant factories solve the problem?
When eating sashimi, adding freshly grated wasabi (Japanese horseradish) makes it even fresher and more delicious. Although the wasabi produced in Taiwan is a favorite of Japanese people, almost all of it is illegally planted in the national forest compartments of Alishan, causing soil and water conservation problems. In 2013, Liao Yiguang, then director of the Chiayi Forest District Office of the Forestry Bureau under the Council of Agriculture, stated that all forest compartments would be recovered at the earliest the year after next. In recent years, the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute has also begun promoting the concept of "plant factories," using indoor environmental control to grow wasabi, but the equipment is expensive, making it hard for ordinary small farmers to afford. At present, 75.6 hectares of wasabi fields are still scattered in the mountains.
The growth performance of wasabi in a plant factory. (Photo / provided by the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute)
At present, the highest-grade wasabi in Alishan can sell for 1,200 yuan per kilogram, but because the quantity is small, most of the cheap wasabi paste on the market is chemically blended.
Ms. Chang, a wasabi farmer in Alishan, said that in recent years, climate warming and heavy rainfall have caused many wasabi plants to rot away, and income is already far worse than before. She knows that the Forestry Bureau will come to take back the land sooner or later, and she once thought about using greenhouses to cultivate wasabi in lower, gentler areas, but she is still struggling with funding, and hopes that when the government takes back the forest land, there can be compensation measures.
Huang Huanzhang is optimistic about the flatland cultivation method and calls on the government to consider giving appropriate compensation to wasabi farmers and to recover the national forest land as soon as possible, since national land security is the first priority.
Yang Hongzhi, former director of the Chiayi Forest District Office and current deputy director-general of the Forestry Bureau, said that law enforcement must take into account both the legal aspect and the practical aspect. Farmers rely on wasabi for their livelihood, and if the land were forcibly recovered all at once, it could cause social problems and push people toward illegal activity. Therefore, a moderate and gradual approach is adopted to recover the land, guiding farmers to shift to work in forest recreation areas. However, wasabi farmers were originally illegally using national forest land, so no compensation fee will be given.
Most of these wasabi farmers reclaimed land in the 1980s. Since the land cannot be inherited, Yang Hongzhi believes that Alishan wasabi will gradually decrease in the future, but no timetable can yet be set. "The sooner the better."