The government should protect agricultural techniques and cultivars as “sensitive technology,” and punish people who export such technology abroad, Agricultural Bank of Taiwan chairman Wu Ming-ming (吳明敏) said yesterday.
After China on Friday last week abruptly announced that it would suspend imports of pineapples from Taiwan from Monday, Chinese state-run media began promoting pineapples grown in Guangdong Province, including the Taiwanese-developed Golden Diamond type.
Taiwan has precious semiconductor and agricultural techniques, but many of them are said to have been exported to China, Wu told a news conference in Taipei promoting pineapple exports.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
Wu called on the government to take action to protect newly developed fruit cultivars to prevent them from flowing to China and to help to promote local products.
The plight of Taiwan’s pineapple growers is the result of an excessive reliance on China’s market, which accounts for more than 90 percent of exported pineapples, he said.
However, prices are not necessarily good when the quantity is large, he said.
Taiwan should not compete with other nations in terms of volume; instead, it should boost the image of local crops by promoting those with traceable certification logos, while diversifying export destinations, Wu said.
The bank in 2019 established a platform to coordinate supply and demand for agricultural products, as many visitors and Taiwanese businesspeople would ask where to buy Taiwanese fruit, he said.
The platform can be accessed at www.ansingo.com.tw.
Through the platform, Taiwanese in Australia have ordered 2 tonnes of pineapples and in Canada more than 10 tonnes, Wu said, adding that Taiwanese in Vietnam, which does not import fresh pineapples from Taiwan, are seeking ways to import processed pineapple products.
Taiwanese in New York are planning to invest in cooling logistics to enable the shipment of pineapples to the US, he said.
More than 60 pineapple-related products are available on the platform, ranging from fresh and dried pineapples, and pineapple cakes, to vinegar, popsicles and noodles made from the fruit, he said.
The platform also promotes local growers’ organic products, as they usually have difficulty selling them at good prices due to the higher costs of organic farming, he said.
World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce honorary chairman Jason Lin (林見松), who is also a policy adviser to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), at the news conference urged Taiwanese overseas to purchase pineapples as gifts for relatives.
Sales of Taiwanese pineapples in Japan are second only to pineapples from the Philippines, as the latter are cheaper, Japan Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce Youth League chairman Shunsuke Shirakawa said.
Most people know that Taiwanese pineapples taste better than those from the Philippines, Shirakawa said, adding that hopefully more Japanese would have access to Taiwanese pineapples through the bank’s platform.
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