Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: April 03, 2018
By: Rina Jimenez-David – @inquirerdotnet

Taiwan rarely strikes visitors, especially foreigners who come for the shopping and the food, as a model for agricultural development. But behind the skyscrapers and factories, Taiwan’s economy is fueled in large part by agriculture.

The late former senator Letty Ramos Shahani, who for a long time sat on the board of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco), the de facto representative office of the Philippines’ interests in the island, once told me that she loved serving at Meco for two reasons. One was because her father, the late foreign secretary Narciso Ramos, was ambassador to Taiwan and helped the country work its way around the “one China policy” through the creation of Meco. The other reason was that agriculture was close to her heart, and indeed in her retirement from politics she settled in her farm in Pangasinan and loved describing herself as essentially a farmer.

And for her, Taiwan provided the blueprint for how agriculture could be used to spur the growth of a prosperous nation, whose economy is now anchored on electronics and consumer products. Today, agricultural production in Taiwan is marked by a concentration on high-value products, such as tropical fruits, vegetables, fisheries and other seafood.
[FULL  STORY]