Taiwan Today
Date: February 14, 2017
Farmers in northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan County recently formed a coalition to grow
Farmers in northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan County have formed a coalition intent on reviving the local soybean industry. (LTN)
soybeans in a bid to revive local production of the crop, the source of such popular food items as soy sauce, soy milk and tofu.
Under the leadership of farmer Wu Shao-wen, 13 local farmers, some of whom had focused on growing rice in the past, began sowing seeds this week on a combined seven hectares of farmland in several Yilan townships.
Wu said that Taiwan is overreliant on imports of non-rice grains such as corn, wheat and soybeans. She added that growing such crops domestically could help reinvigorate Yilan’s soy sauce industry.
The soybean growing efforts in the northeastern county are in line with the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture’s policy of enhancing the nation’s farming self-sufficiency. Currently, Taiwan imports 68 percent of the food it consumes. [FULL STORY]
