Field visit to a farm in Tainan, China for on-site exchange activities
Photo courtesy / Chen Yunfang
After several consecutive forums, under the arrangements of the host organization Zengwen Community University, Mr. Daycha Siripatra, founder of the Thai Rice God Foundation, Mr. Dorji Wangchhuk, chief researcher at Bhutan's Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, and some staff members went together to visit farms in Tainan, China on site.
The first stop was Mr. Dong's private farm, which he runs together with his father. According to Mr. Dong, this farm is not a formally certified organic farm, but one that applies relatively little pesticide. It has about five jia of paddy fields, and in addition to growing rice, it also grows some greenhouse fruits such as liu ding (citrus).
Mr. Daycha observed the rice in those paddy fields very attentively, and also noticed that some other varieties of rice were mixed in. During the process, he also asked Mr. Dong why the rice leaves had some spots. Mr. Dong explained that those spots were caused by herbicide spraying; however, the accompanying staff discussed privately and felt that those spots looked more like they were caused by pests and diseases.
The second stop was Taikang Organic Farm.
This is an area that the former Tainan County government leased from Taiwan Sugar Corporation, about 45 hectares, planned as a tourist farm with production, teaching and leisure functions. According to Mr. Xu, the farm park manager, 22 groups are currently stationed in the park, each with about one to two hectares of land. The crops planted include fruit trees, rice, melons and so on.
Before the on-site visit, Mr. Xu arranged a briefing that roughly described the current occupancy situation at Taikang Farm and the problems encountered.
Because Taiwan Sugar Corporation's land had previously been treated with many pesticides, although this suppressed the possibility of some weeds growing, it instead strengthened a few highly competitive (pesticide-resistant) weeds, such as the appearance of fu xiang zi (commonly known as tu xiang). Some operators could therefore only use manual labor to remove weeds (about three times). This is because the weeds can still grow at a position one meter underground. In addition, operators planted ma chi xiao xian cao to enhance soil fertility, without using herbicides, reducing harm to the land.
Some farmer friends adopted a paddy-upland rotation method in response to their own operations: one season of rice and one season of sweet potato in rotation, and this method greatly reduced pests and diseases. At Taikang, farmer friends also make their own organic fertilizer compost to make the soil healthier.
Thailand and Bhutan have the same troubles regarding how to remove the vigorous vitality of weeds. Mr. Daycha of the Rice God Foundation offered the experience and practices of farmers in his own country, but the reproductive capacity of weeds at Taikang seemed even more tenacious, and most weeding methods could not substantially reduce the number of weeds. Mr. Dorji of Bhutan said that Bhutan's practice is to dig out the weeds and then burn them, which is a weeding method that requires a great deal of manpower.
Because they have to face market challenges, some operators at Taikang, in order to highlight their features, use two methods: "production differentiation" and "product refinement"; the former is to highlight the special nature of self-produced agricultural products, while the latter is to process fresh crops into agricultural processed products with a longer shelf life (such as juice, etc.).
Looking at the operation of Taikang Organic Farm, the local government that originally promoted the park did not first make complete adjustments and restoration to the park's natural environment, but instead adopted the BOT method, leaving all responsibility to the resident operators, so operators need to spend more effort and time adjusting the soil quality and environment.
Further reading
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