Why are Yujing mangoes so sweet and fragrant? The clever use of weeds is the key
"He broke his leg, so he couldn't use herbicide, and accidentally grew sweet, fragrant mangoes."
This was the original motivation behind Wang Rong-bin of Yujing switching to friendly mango farming. "Friends say my mangoes taste like the mangoes of the past." The reason is that after herbicide is sprayed, some of the fragrances unique to the fruit are lost as a result. "Farmers in Taiwan always feel that if you don't apply herbicide and others see weeds growing thick in your field, they'll say you're a lazy farmer."
"When promoting friendly farming methods, a concern that may exist locally is how should livelihoods be maintained? How do we persuade them? This is the biggest bottleneck in promoting friendly farming methods." The worries of conventional farmers are something we often hear them bring up when interviewing friendly farmers in the field: "No farmer is willing to spray pesticides; it's because consumers demand the appearance of melons and fruits, so they have no choice but to spray. In fact, the ones most deeply harmed by spraying pesticides are the farmers themselves; cases of pesticide poisoning from spraying are heard of from time to time."
And in switching from conventional to friendly, organic farming methods, one must also face a sharp drop in yield during the transition period. How does one face the adjustments of transition amid this? The teacher's view is: "Perhaps within the survey we can try to see, among the farmers who can currently successfully use friendly farming methods, what crops are they working with? Do these crops have some characteristics that allow them to carry out friendly farming methods very easily? What is the relationship between this environment and the crops?" By combing through the data and working out a thread, perhaps we can find a method more acceptable to local farmers and a development more in line with the Satoyama Initiative. No farmer is willing to spray pesticides, and we also believe that no one in Yujing wants to destroy the beauty of their hometown. Preserving a trace of Taiwan's pure land in this Zengwen River tap water protection area, and thinking about the balance between the environment and industry, is also an important part of the Zengwen River basin initiative.
Note 1: Weed Science Network
http://wendar.wix.com/weedecologyfunction
Text edited BY Editor
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