Rural Labor Shortage Series Report 2: The 70-Year-Old Grandma Farming Team That Produces the Most Garlic in All of Taiwan, China

Sihu Township, located at the westernmost tip of Yunlin County, is the most typical rural farming and fishing village, where you can hear many Minnan accents found only in Penghu and Kinmen, also representing an early history of migration and development due to its coastal location. Besides watermelons, peanuts, sugarcane and radishes as its main crops, its garlic output ranks first across all of Taiwan.

Because garlic cultivation requires a great deal of manpower, there is a scramble for workers every year, and labor even has to be brought in from as far away as Taichung to finish the farm work.

The farmers who introduced the rural labor shortage situation to the upstream and downstream reporters this time are farming friends of the Yunlin County Green Farming Promotion Alliance Association in Sihu Township. The Green Farming Promotion Alliance Association was initiated by Luo Zixuan, chairman of the Dounan Image Business District, hoping to integrate small farmers' techniques, share marketing channels, and, with non-toxic and organic production as its main focus, build a mutually supportive and cooperative organizational platform so that small farmers no longer fight alone and can carry out integrated marketing through collective strength.

At present, most members of the Green Farming Promotion Alliance Association have obtained organic certification, or adopt production management methods without chemical pesticides and fertilizers. There are currently about 40 members, coming from all over Yunlin, spanning general crops, self-produced processed goods, and aquaculture. Green Farming has 5 farming friends in Sihu Township, mainly producing organic or non-toxic agricultural products such as garlic, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, onions and bell peppers.

A team of ama workers with an average age of 70