Democratic Progressive Party Legislator William Lai (賴清德), who is running in the Greater Tainan mayoral election next month, has said that he will establish an agricultural think tank if elected, adding that he encourages the establishment of farming schools where agricultural techniques can be exchanged in local communities.
Nowadays, when talk of profit dominates politics, the idea of incorporating the wisdom of our older generation of farmers into policy is indeed a welcome change.
The nation’s traditional farmers were around long before chemical pesticides started being used. In days gone by, our farmlands were beautiful, our waters were clean and we had an abundance of fauna. We need to remember these times for if that precious knowledge is not quickly collated and passed on, I am afraid that future generations of Taiwanese will get used to the dilapidated farming villages we already have and they will be unable to develop any real love for our land.
Much more valuable than this, however, is the understanding farmers have of our ecosystems. In the past, our farmers relied on the good bacteria that existed in vast quantities in our land as they made organic fertilizer, softened up the soil and helped the land absorb nutrients.
However, the way chemical fertilizer has been abused over the last 50 years has seen our farmlands deteriorate with only pests and bad bacteria left on them.
As soon as farmers cannot afford these two types of supplies, whose manufacture is oil-reliant, our agricultural production will collapse. This is not something that will go away as we approach the post-petroleum era. It will lead to a recurring disaster.
In 2005, the UN brought together 800 experts and academics in a collaborative effort called the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development. The results were released in a report two years ago. Of particular note is the report’s conclusion that Agricultural Ecology, or Agroecology, should be the basis of agricultural industries and agriculture. This, it says, is the best way to deal with future food crises, not the genetic modifying technology controlled by large corporations.
However, we cannot rely solely on the academic world, especially since academia in Taiwan is not particularly strong in this area. What we need is for researchers and farmers to work together: It is the farmers who truly understand their local natural ecosystems, as they work on the land day in, day out. This is also the reason why participatory research has become so popular overseas in the last few years.
Talk, however, is cheap, and actually getting ourselves in a position in which we can collate the collective knowledge of traditional farmers, especially regarding their understanding of weeds and insects, is something else entirely.
The only people capable of doing this job would be those with a strong background in biological testing. I would therefore like to suggest Lai immediately bring together biology teachers and volunteers in the fields of ecosystems and environmental protection to work together in this meaningful job.
I also hope that the Council of Agriculture and political leaders do not play politics with something as important as this, for learning from our older generation of farmers should be a concerted, nationwide undertaking.
Warren Kuo is a professor at National Taiwan University’s Department of Agronomy.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
World leaders are preparing themselves for a second Donald Trump presidency. Some leaders know more or less where he stands: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy knows that a difficult negotiation process is about to be forced on his country, and the leaders of NATO countries would be well aware of being complacent about US military support with Trump in power. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would likely be feeling relief as the constraints placed on him by the US President Joe Biden administration would finally be released. However, for President William Lai (賴清德) the calculation is not simple. Trump has surrounded himself
US president-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named US Representative Mike Waltz, a vocal supporter of arms sales to Taiwan who has called China an “existential threat,” as his national security advisor, and on Thursday named US Senator Marco Rubio, founding member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China — a global, cross-party alliance to address the challenges that China poses to the rules-based order — as his secretary of state. Trump’s appointments, including US Representative Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the UN, who has been a strong supporter of Taiwan in the US Congress, and Robert Lighthizer as US trade
Following the BRICS summit held in Kazan, Russia, last month, media outlets circulated familiar narratives about Russia and China’s plans to dethrone the US dollar and build a BRICS-led global order. Each summit brings renewed buzz about a BRICS cross-border payment system designed to replace the SWIFT payment system, allowing members to trade without using US dollars. Articles often highlight the appeal of this concept to BRICS members — bypassing sanctions, reducing US dollar dependence and escaping US influence. They say that, if widely adopted, the US dollar could lose its global currency status. However, none of these articles provide
A nation has several pillars of national defense, among them are military strength, energy and food security, and national unity. Military strength is very much on the forefront of the debate, while several recent editorials have dealt with energy security. National unity and a sense of shared purpose — especially while a powerful, hostile state is becoming increasingly menacing — are problematic, and would continue to be until the nation’s schizophrenia is properly managed. The controversy over the past few days over former navy lieutenant commander Lu Li-shih’s (呂禮詩) usage of the term “our China” during an interview about his attendance
RSS