Chapter 9 : Agriculture

 

        Who are the heroes behind the scenes of Taiwan’s economic miracle? Whose efforts have allowed us to sit here in this classroom learning geography free of worry? Figure 9-1 shows that around 10% of the workforce is engaged in agriculture (including forestry, fishing, and livestock farming), 38% is employed by the manufacturing industry, and 52% is in the service industry. In general, primary industries extract natural resources. Agriculture and mining _{(Note 1)} count as primary industries. Secondary industries produce goods from raw materials, as in any kind of manufacturing. Tertiary industry means the service sector, which sells manufactured goods or provides intangible services. Commerce and transportation are tertiary industries. Take a look at Photo 9-1: Are these industries primary?

▲ Figure 9-1 Figure 8-6 Employment by Sector (1997)                 農業：Agriculture                 工業：Industry                 服務業：The Service Sector

Photo 9-1 Primary Industry                 ▲ (a) Corn Field                 ▲ (b) Duck Farm                 ▲ (c) Once a way of life, logging is now illegal.                 ▲ (d) Planted Forests

 

Structure of Industry

        According to Figure 9-1, in the early years, most of the workforce worked in primary industries. By 1981, a large percentage was engaged in secondary industries. Nowadays, most of the workforce is employed by secondary or tertiary industries. What has caused the transformation of industry?

        You have probably noticed that the percentage of the workforce engaged in agriculture is declining. This is not to say farmers are not contributing in other ways by protecting ecological environments, maintaining the food supply and developing tourism resources. It is simply to state the fact that the there are relatively fewer farmers than before.

▲ Figure 9-2 Industrial Transformation

 

Agricultural Factors

        The climate of Taiwan is warm and mild, especially suitable for agriculture. However, in recent years the agricultural workforce has shrunk. Agricultural approaches have changed. Agriculture is now characterized by the following:

        1. Less farmland: Taiwan has far more mountains than plains, so farmland is limited to begin with. Furthermore, during economic development, much farmland has been urbanized or taken over by industry. Individual farmers have less land to work with than before.

        2. Use of advanced technologies: Agriculture has been mechanized; crops have undergone genetic modification; and chemical fertilizers and insecticides are now applied. Farmers also benefit from weather forecasting. Thus, while there is now less farmland, productivity is higher.

        3. The aging of the workforce in rural villages: With limited farmland and low incomes in rural areas, many young people go to urban areas to find work. The consequence is the aging of the rural workforce. This has become a concern.

        4. High intensity agriculture: As the average farm size gets smaller, astute farmers invest in  advanced technologies to improve productivity and produce various crops year-round .

        5. Agricultural tourism: Prosperity has made many people’s lives tense and busy. Many urbanites long to visit the natural world. It is no surprise that agricultural tourism is becoming more popular.

 

Main Crops

        Taiwan farms numerous kinds of crops. It is no wonder Taiwan is called “Treasure Island.” Let’s introduce Taiwan’s main crops:

        1. Rice: Rice is grown in paddies. A paddy is a field that is flooded with water. Of all the farmland in Taiwan, rice paddies take up the most space. Compared with forty years ago, however, the total area of farmland planted with rice is less than one third of what it once was. Even though much less farmland is planted with rice, total rice production remains very high, because of the increase in productivity. In other words, we now grow more rice in a certain space of land than we did in the past. Eating habits have changed. We now eat other grains in addition to rice. Rice is not the only staple food. Now we even sometimes produce more rice than we need to eat: supply sometimes exceeds demand. When this happens, the excess rice can be exported for money.       

2. Sugar Cane: Sugar cane is one of Taiwan’s traditional crops. We have found historical records of sugar cane plantation in as early as the seventeenth century. In the early years, sugar cane and rice were both important export commodities and contributed a lot to the economic development.

       3. Tea: Tea is one of the major crops in the mountainside areas of Taiwan. During the early period after the retrocession, tea accounted for 10% of the total value of all export commodities, second only to rice. Tea is still a popular drink in Taiwan.

        In addition, peanuts, bamboo shoots, and all kind of fruits and vegetables are also widely cultivated. Flower growing does not take up a lot of farmland. A lot of flowers can be grown in a small area and sold for a lot of money. It is also highly profitable to cultivate betel nut. In recent years, more and more land has been planted with betel nut, especially in the southern plains and mountainside areas. Betel nut trees do not hold water and soil well and thus have a negative impact on water and soil conservation of the slopes. Betel nut tree planting has increased mudflows and landslides. Therefore, the government discourages betel nut plantation.

 

Forestry, Fishing, and Livestock Farming

        Taiwan has vast mountain areas and abundant rainfall, so forest resources are plentiful. Timbers used to be an important natural resource. However, excessive logging and mountainside development have reduced forest coverage to only 58%. Government policies now focus on preservation. Instead of logging trees we are now planting them.

        Taiwan is surrounded by sea, so the sea fishery is very prosperous. There is coastal fishing and deep-sea commercial fishing. Taiwan’s deep-sea fishing fleet takes fish from the Pacific, the South China Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. In recent years, fish farming has developed. Taiwan’s fish farms are famous for milk fish, oysters, shrimps, eels, and Taiwanese abalone.

        Taiwan has limited land, so the main type of livestock farming is enclosure farming. In the early years, livestock farming was secondary. Farming families grew crops and maybe raised a few animals on the side. Livestock farms were very small. Nowadays, large livestock farms can easily raise more than ten thousand pigs or chickens. Furthermore, with government support, the dairy industry has become more prosperous. Livestock farms have become tourist spots where people can spend their leisure time.