Visiting Meinong's Tobacco Leaf Fields: Summer Cultivation Rural Grassroots Interview Series, Part One of Two

Text / Wu Jialing, Guo Yanting, Liao Zhenya

Taiwan's tobacco industry has grown continuously since the postwar period, but as capitalism swept across the globe, the tobacco industry could not escape the impact of globalization.

In the 75th year of the Republic of China (1986), in order to join the GATT, Taiwan began adjusting its domestic policies toward "trade liberalization." The following year, in the 76th year of the Republic of China (1987), the government "opened imports of foreign cigarettes and alcohol," and foreign goods broke the monopoly's long-standing monopoly on the market. Domestic cigarette sales also began to decline year after year starting from that year. As Taiwan's doors to foreign trade gradually opened wider, the Monopoly Bureau began sharply reducing the area of tobacco cultivation, and in the 82nd year of the Republic of China (1993) proposed an incentive program for tobacco farmers to cease cultivation, using various incentive and compensation policies to encourage tobacco farmers to apply to stop growing tobacco.

The Collapse of Contract Tobacco Cultivation under Globalization

After Taiwan joined the WTO in the 91st year of the Republic of China (2002), the Tobacco and Alcohol Monopoly Bureau began moving toward privatization, restructuring into "Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation," accelerating the decline of the local tobacco industry.

Starting from that year in Meinong, the area of tobacco fields shrank rapidly, halving every year. The privatized tobacco and liquor company planned to stop purchasing local tobacco within three years, but under pressure from tobacco farmers and political forces, the total tobacco cultivation area across Taiwan was still maintained at 702 hectares, while Meinong had only 150 hectares left. Meinong, once known as the tobacco leaf kingdom, can no longer see its former glory.

When the state, in the name of "freedom," plays a new role in agricultural production relations and reconstructs those relations, how do farmers face the changes in the broader environment and develop their own ways of responding?

Understanding how tobacco farmers survive in the face of the decline of Taiwan's tobacco leaf industry was the purpose of this interview team's visit. We saw that when facing changes in the broader environment, farmers are not motionless, and because production relations are complex, the relationships among labor, landowners, and farmers, and even the post-production exchange relations and distribution forms, all differ due to the heterogeneity among farmers.

Farmers once struggled against nature; now they struggle against the changes of the times. When tobacco leaf shifted from state regulation to a market mechanism, and contract guarantees were no longer seen, some people chose to stop growing tobacco, some chose to rent their fields to others or switch to other crops, and some operated in reverse, beginning to buy up land on a large scale from tobacco farmers with permits, transforming themselves into farmland managers.

During several days of interviews, the team visited many tobacco farmers and heard many different stories. Below is a preliminary exploration of the current situation of Meinong's tobacco farmers through four of the more representative ones.

The Survival Strategy of Diversified Investment

On the afternoon of the second day after the interview team arrived in Meinong, we visited the home of an elderly tobacco farmer who had grown tobacco locally for decades.

When our group arrived at the tobacco farmer's home, the tobacco farmer and his wife (bok-mu, meaning "auntie" in Hakka) happened to be busy in their own small vegetable garden.

The small vegetable garden seems to have become basic equipment for farming households. The existence of the small vegetable garden shows that farming households cannot stand to see land left "idle." Just like the tobacco farmer and his wife, both over seventy years old, they are not idle and still insist on working in the fields. Walking into the tobacco farmer's backyard, which resembled a small factory, what came into view was a tobacco leaf drying machine, and the air was filled with the fragrance of tobacco. Holding tobacco leaves, the tobacco farmer explained to us that after harvest, the leaves must be tied into bundles, then clipped onto sticks, and then placed into the smokehouse for curing.

The tobacco farmer had been growing tobacco for more than fifty years. In the 29th year of the Republic of China (1940), the promotion of tobacco cultivation began. Back then, when growing tobacco, the Monopoly Bureau would even provide free fertilizer, pesticides, and seeds. From the 50th to the 80th year of the Republic of China (1961-1991), prices were quite good, with one kilogram reaching as high as over 200 yuan.

However, not all tobacco leaves sent to the tobacco collection station could fetch such a high price; they still had to go through grading and screening. In addition, the screening process often relied solely on the eyes of an inspector, and sometimes tobacco farmers were dissatisfied with the other party's judgment, so disagreements and conflicts often occurred during grading.

The tobacco farmer jokingly said he had always been running an "underground tobacco factory." In the early days, because every county and city sold tobacco leaves, when harvest began he would contact people everywhere. If he had more tobacco this time and the other party's harvest was not as good, he could sell his tobacco to them, because in the past the amount collected was not so strictly controlled.

The current operation of the "underground tobacco factory" is because one person cannot grow too much, so everyone can adjust quantities among themselves. Tobacco is becoming harder and harder to grow. Besides the situation of shrinking land area, farmers also face rising raw material costs, such as oil, pesticides, or seeds, and even fertilizer. In the past, when the Monopoly Bureau existed, fertilizer was allocated and did not require payment; the cost was deducted together when tobacco leaves were submitted. Now, however, buying materials is mandatory.

Facing the decline of tobacco, the tobacco farmer began partially switching to red beans seven or eight years ago, because at that time red beans fetched a better price, and tobacco was also becoming scarcer.

The tobacco farmer said that although growing red beans now means shifting from an agricultural life in which the state guaranteed purchases to a buyer-seller business relationship in market competition, he mainly cooperates with familiar companies. At harvest time, he only needs to make a phone call, and the other party will come to the field to purchase the harvested red beans. Red beans now sell for about fifty-plus yuan per jin; normally, if the price is forty yuan, that is considered good. However, not everyone can grow red beans; it requires skill.

Besides switching to red beans, the tobacco farmer also grows some organic vegetables, but not as a big business; rather, he sells vegetables himself at the market. Relying on his many years of farmland experience, the tobacco farmer developed an eye for land, so he also began buying and selling land, allowing himself to live out another path at a time when he cannot fully rely on tobacco.

So does that mean he will not grow tobacco in the future? We asked.

Speaking of the future, the tobacco farmer said the government still wants it grown now, so he will continue growing tobacco, because although growing red beans is easier, prices fluctuate, so the psychological pressure is greater. With tobacco there is a fixed buyer, so at least he will not lose money. And although there is more competition, as long as his quality is good, he has nothing to fear. The tobacco farmer smiled at us confidently.

The Survival Strategy of Constant Innovation

After leaving the tobacco farmer's home, that evening we went to visit another local tobacco farmer, Brother Zhu.

Brother Zhu's home also had a tobacco factory, so upon entering the courtyard house, a faint fresh fragrance immediately greeted us. That is a scent unique to Meinong households. After Brother Zhu, who welcomed us warmly, finished making tea, the first thing he told us about was not tobacco, but the seedless lemons he is now growing.

He said that after the WTO, many people stopped growing tobacco, because the area was too small or they could not grow it well. At first, more people switched to guavas, and prices were very good then, but growing guavas requires a lot of labor, which he now finds harder to manage. At that time, some people also chose to grow papayas, but papaya cultivation required high investment, such as the cost of netting and steel pipes, and many people grew them at first. At that time the market was already saturated, and price fluctuations were also relatively large.

(Papaya is one of the crops Meinong tobacco farmers have switched to)

Brother Zhu said that switching crops requires consideration of capital, technology, market, and labor.

In earlier years he chose to grow tangerines, so he is now more familiar with how to grow lemons, which belong to the same family, and thus he began trying to cultivate seedless lemons. However, the current market is dominated by seeded lemons, because seedless lemons and seeded lemons taste different, and the price is higher, so there is relatively less market for them. Last year, because of Typhoon Morakot, the price was once quoted at 200 yuan per kilogram, but normally there is no such price at all; the price is very poor, only two and a half yuan per jin. He said with a smile that growing lemons could starve a person to death!

(Seedless lemons produced in Meinong: after bagging and attaching a cute little explanatory card,
they become very marketable)

The biggest difference between growing lemons and growing tobacco is that tobacco can bring a stable income. With contract cultivation, as long as you work hard, you can basically gross 500,000 per hectare. However, Brother Zhu no longer grows tobacco now, because the Monopoly Bureau no longer buys it, and growing tobacco requires a great deal of physical strength. Brother Zhu said he no longer has that much energy. In addition, raw materials keep soaring. A barrel of oil once rose to 5,500 yuan, and about eight barrels of oil are needed per hectare. Just the oil alone added more than 20,000 in costs, which was truly unbearable!

Brother Zhu said that perhaps everyone has always thought tobacco leaves were very profitable, but in fact tobacco leaf cultivation is an industry that requires accumulation over generations, because the formation of a tobacco factory, whether machinery, land, or labor, requires a large amount of capital. Without accumulation generation after generation, it is very difficult to build from nothing.

In his farming life, Brother Zhu's high school education was once an obstacle for him, because at that time attending high school was a very high level of education. His friends around him either worked in government agencies or were teachers. When he decided to return home to inherit the tobacco business, many people laughed at him, and for a period of time he could not hold his head high in front of his friends.

However, his high education also opened another door for him. In the 73rd year of the Republic of China (1984), the Monopoly Bureau valued Brother Zhu's expertise and asked him to sign a contract for tobacco leaf research and development, hoping Brother Zhu could help trial-grow new products and compare differences among varieties. They also asked him to help develop new varieties and promised to give him additional subsidies and performance bonuses.

"People who grow tobacco must understand tobacco themselves," Brother Zhu constantly emphasized during the interview.

Many people complain that tobacco prices are bad, but in fact it is their own tobacco that is grown poorly. Brother Zhu held himself to high standards, whether requiring himself to produce high-quality tobacco or ensuring that experiments with new varieties could not fail, demanding that he achieve results every year. This high self-demand made the Monopoly Bureau trust him greatly. He never left experiments to others. During his busiest period, he once had to complete four or five experiments in a year, but this also gave him guaranteed income and a sense of personal achievement.

Recalling the glorious days of growing tobacco in the past, Brother Zhu, excited yet somewhat helpless, changed the subject and said that as long as he always keeps a research mindset, carefully tends crops, and continues developing new things, there will always be another way out. Brother Zhu's words carried a sense of pride in farming. He said that now when he sees those classmates, he holds his head high.

The Survival Strategy of Commercial Management

On the evening of the third day in Meinong, the interview team went to Mr. Liu's home.

Mr. Liu's home was beside a large road, and the building was not the common mixed tobacco factory and residence of tobacco farmers, but an apartment-style residence. After entering, the wall was covered with plaques, and the telephone rang incessantly. He seemed like a busy businessman, very different from the tobacco farmers we had met in the past few days.

After sitting down on a high-grade sofa, Mr. Liu said that in fact the WTO's impact on tobacco was not great, because Taiwan's cigarettes were already blended cigarettes, and no matter what, Taiwan's tobacco would definitely be needed. However, Taiwan's tobacco is relatively expensive, at 200 yuan per kilogram. The unit price and cost are both too high, which is the main reason Taiwan's tobacco leaves cannot survive.

Mr. Liu was not originally engaged in agriculture. At first he sold drying machines, and after retirement he went to mainland China to specialize in the pesticide business. Only after more than ten years did he return to Taiwan to farm. Although he did not grow tobacco in earlier years, he transferred land to his wife and rented it to others. When he went to the mainland, he sold part of the land, leaving only four fen of land. After returning to Taiwan, he bought ten jia of land in one go. Although it was once reduced to 1.8 jia, he is now starting to buy land again.

At that time, he spent a lot of money just to buy land. In addition, although he originally had a tobacco curing machine, the other tobacco-making equipment alone cost more than ten million. He is still continuing to buy land, because now the area one person can grow is too small, and many people who no longer grow tobacco choose to sell their land.

Why keep buying land? Mr. Liu said it is because farming requires large-scale cultivation. Taiwan's tobacco could not use machinery in the past because the cultivated area was too small, but Taiwan's future direction will move from smallholders to large-scale cultivation.

Tobacco is the most stable industry, betel nut second, although the whole market is in disorder now. However, there will still be political issues in agriculture. Candidates need votes to run for election. If no one grows it at all, it will trigger protests by tobacco farmers. For political reasons, local tobacco must be blended in, because farmers cannot be left unemployed, so it will not disappear completely so quickly.

Moreover, "what kind of tobacco company is a company without local tobacco! Right now it is only for cost reasons that the amount of local tobacco has to be reduced, so it will only decrease, not disappear." Mr. Liu said in a certain tone. After the Monopoly Bureau transformed into a tobacco and liquor company, it launched a formal tobacco bidding activity, which in fact was also a disguised way of protecting the remaining tobacco fields.

"All countries in the world that cannot grow tobacco must be very poor," Mr. Liu said, because tobacco is a high-profit item. If it were purely imported, all the money would be earned by others. At least there are still two more years to grow it, and maybe it can continue the year after next. It is still unclear what will happen after the tobacco and liquor company is fully privatized, but local tobacco leaves will not disappear completely.

<To be continued>

Related article: Summer Cultivation Rural Grassroots Interview Series One: Meinong Tobacco Leaf (1)