In addition to providing farmers with banana seedlings, the Taiwan Banana Research Institute has also dedicated funding and time to research efforts that help develop different kinds of banana products, the most recent being its banana flower-based cosmetic products.
Institute director Chiu Chu-ying (邱祝櫻) said the institute, located in Pingtung County, had used banana flower extract to create an assortment of cosmetic products, including hydrolates, face-wash mousses, moisturizers and mosquito repellents.
Chiu said institute visitors were surprised that banana flowers could be used in such a fashion.
Photo: Lo Hsin-chen, Taipei Times
FLOWER EXTRACTS
Chiu said the institute is in talks with manufacturers on the development of even more diversified products using banana flower hydrolates and extracts.
Institute manager Pan Wei-hsin (潘唯心) said the institute saw a rise in visitor numbers during the post-COVID-19 pandemic period and, in order to provide visitors with more room, the institute is repurposing a workroom as an on-site store, selling the various products made by the institute.
The institute was founded with the goal of enhancing Taiwanese banana production and sales, with a large part of its research dedicated to the prevention of pests that would prey on banana crops, the conservation of banana species and research into new hybrid cultivars, as well as technology on propagating healthy banana seedlings.
The institute also conducts research into specific fertilizers for bananas, as well as improving banana harvesting and transportation.
The institute said that just this month, the CEO of the Vietnam-based Truong Hai Group, Tran Ba-duong (陳寶山), visited the institute and said that Taiwan’s precision agriculture was doing well for itself, as it could make many diverse products.
The institute said that developing alternative and diverse products utilizing bananas could increase the added value of processed banana goods and would alleviate the issue of banana overproduction.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS