After Typhoon Soudelor, replanting lacks seedlings; peanut and sweet potato prices rise by 50%, farmers complain of hardship

The crop with the highest agricultural damage this time was banana. Because Soudelor brought strong winds, bananas could be seen snapped in half everywhere, with the affected area reaching 6146 hectares and losses of 5 hundred 556 million yuan. Wang Jiwei, who grows bananas in Qishan, said that at the beginning of the typhoon the wind blew from the northeast, and later from the southwest, so the bananas were spun around and around. They were originally to be harvested in 10 and 11 months, but one third was broken and damaged by the typhoon. This was the most severe loss since Typhoon Morakot in 2009, and some other people lost entire fields.

However, he said, banana plants have side shoots, so they can be replanted, and he had not heard of any farmers wanting to buy banana seedlings.
During previous wind disasters, the Taiwan Banana Research Institute had lowered seedling prices to help farmers resume cultivation, but director Zhao Zhiping said that summer has many fruits, and the Agriculture and Food Agency wanted farmers to grow winter bananas, so the institute followed the policy and had a relatively small amount of seedlings in summer, only about the amount for 10 hectares, and farmers could use side shoots to cultivate them themselves. Therefore, this time no seedlings were specially provided to affected farmers, but they could still inquire if they had demand.

Seedling operator Liu Shengxing said that most farmers grow winter bananas, and seedlings are indeed relatively few now, only about 50 thousand plants, but after next month there will be 100 thousand plants, and after 11 month supply can be unlimited.

He said that although farmers may have demand, it takes about 1 to 2 months from planting bananas to having sellable seedlings, and farmers cultivating with their own side shoots is faster than buying seedlings. Only for new cultivation would it be necessary to consider buying seedlings from outside.