Organic Farms 0.1 Percent in Taiwan

"Starting in 1920, Hatta Yoichi spent 10 years building the Wushantou Reservoir and the Chianan Irrigation Canal. The reservoir has a capacity of 5.5 billion cubic meters and the catchment area stretches for more than 90km, while the irrigation canals are more than 1,000km long, providing water to 145,500 hectares of farmland in Chiayi, Tainan and nearby areas.

Before the construction of the canal, farmers were dependent on the weather for their farming, but that soon changed and the area has become the granary of Taiwan.

To this day, Hatta is admired for his great contribution. From the point of view of organic agriculture, he is even more relevant for the future of Taiwan.

Organic agriculture is useful in protecting the environment, advancing farming methods and providing health benefits for the consumer. For this reason, Europe has been strongly encouraging organic agriculture in the last few years; in Austria, organic farms already constitute more than 15 percent of farmland.

Although organic farming has been promoted in Taiwan for some years, progress has been limited: Organic farms constitute just 0.1 percent of the nation's farmland."

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