The great taste of green plums, come and try them at the Bend Down Market

Editor's note: Taoyuan Xiangmei is a range of green plum products made self-reliantly after the disaster by the Qinhe tribe in the Typhoon Morakot disaster area. Many social groups helped along the way, including the Taiwan Rural Front, the Haoran Foundation, and university students. The author of this article is a student from the "Guyu Club" who took part in helping with sales, and writes down his reflections to share with readers.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Over the past year, because of the long distance and travel time, the farmers of the Qinhe tribe could not come in person to the Wanyao Market to meet consumers face to face and introduce their products, so they took a compromise approach: the goods were delivered by home delivery to the Wanyao Market, where another student from the Guyu Club, Qiaowei, and I helped sell and promote them. It was through this connection that we came into contact with Taoyuan Xiangmei.

Shedding the image of "indigenous people sitting around waiting for outside aid" and letting the products speak for themselves

While helping promote Xiangmei, we also had to respond to all kinds of consumer questions about the products. Although with the help of online articles and materials we could more or less tell the brand story of Taoyuan Xiangmei and its commitment to environmentally friendly and pesticide-free farming, secondhand information alone was not enough. So, in order to present Taoyuan Xiangmei more completely at the Wanyao Market, we decided to go to the Qinhe tribe during the green plum harvest season, meet the local farmers face to face, and take part in the processing and making of the Xiangmei products.

When introducing the Qinhe tribe at the Wanyao Market, because our understanding of the tribe was limited, we inevitably began with the fact that it was one of the hardest-hit areas of the August 8 Typhoon Morakot disaster, explaining to consumers that Qinhe rebuilt on site after the disaster and, with the support of the Haoran Foundation, carried out a small farmer rehabilitation plan. In the past, indigenous people could only sell green plums to middlemen at low prices and had limited income; through this rebuilding opportunity, the foundation also guided the development of plum-processed products so that indigenous people could have better economic income.

Although this kind of introduction did not go against the facts, it inadvertently appealed to consumers' sympathy and shifted to emphasizing that the indigenous farmers were doubly disadvantaged as both an ethnic group and an industry, and "should" receive outside care and assistance. However, although this promotional approach could briefly attract consumers' attention, as time went on, appeals to sympathize with disaster victims and help rebuild disaster areas could not be transformed into long-term support, and it also easily fell into the stereotype of "indigenous people sitting around waiting for outside aid."

In March of this year, after helping at the Xiangmei stall in the Wanyao Market for half a year, we visited the Qinhe tribe for the first time. After interacting with the farmers in the tribe on the ground, we found that they had never blamed heaven or others because of the damage from the typhoon, nor were they willing to passively accept outside assistance. On the contrary, the farmers in the tribe threw themselves wholeheartedly into green plum processing and had deep confidence in the "Taoyuan Xiangmei" brand. What I saw in the tribe were steadfast people who insisted on pesticide-free farming, were meticulous about the processing, and devoted great effort and care to making high-quality products.

Although manpower and resources in the tribe were quite lacking, the tedious steps of home-based hand production did not cause trouble, because they sincerely wanted to work hard to make proud Xiangmei products with market competitiveness.

Taoyuan Xiangmei products: Active Plum Essence (650 yuan), Kung Fu Crisp Plum (250 yuan), Flavored Q Plum (250 yuan), Healthy Plum Jam (200 yuan).