NEW DELHI: The young Taiwanese agriculture experts have said that Taiwan can help Indian farmers reduce production cost and enhance income by introducing developed agriculture techniques they are using in Taiwan.
A group of young Taiwanese agriculture experts who were on a 7-day visit to India last week in the capacity of Taiwan agricultural ambassadors said on Saturday both the countries could join hands to improve the agriculture yield by using Taiwanese developed techniques.
“Taiwan’s basic agriculture, including natural ecological planting, is especially suitable for development in India in terms of reducing the cost of farmers’ production and increase farmers’ income in rural areas, “ said Cheng-Tso Hsieh, an aqua-culturist of abalone, white shrimp and grouper.
“Taiwan has developed into high-tech agriculture, it uses high-tech satellites and drones to develop in agriculture in Taiwan. But all the high-tech agriculture is built on basic agricultural knowledge. After visiting farmer association and farmers in rural areas in India, I think Taiwan’s basic agriculture, including natural ecological planting, is especially suitable for development in India in terms of reducing the cost of farmers’ production and increase farmers’ income in rural areas,” he added.
These agriculture professionals aged between 18 and 40 visited India as part of the Young Agricultural Ambassadors New Southbound Policy Exchange Program organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council of Agriculture.
On Saturday, these experts shared their experience in the presence of Ambassador Chung-Kwang Tien, Representative, Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre (TECC) in India and Lin Chih-Hung, Deputy Director-General of Taiwan’s Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture in New Delhi.
Chang Wei-Jan, also known as David Chang as an expert in cinnamon and essential oil, said he is pleased to visit India as a Youth Agricultural Ambassador representing Taiwan.
“After seven days of being here in India, I find India a great country with a wealth of natural resources, especially in agriculture. It has many types of crops such as cotton, rice, barley, corn, bamboo, and others. Moreover, India has a very good demographic advantage and owns a very promising market. Taiwan with its agricultural technology can cooperate with India to create unlimited business opportunities in the future,” he added.
This year, 30 farming, forestry, fisheries, and animal husbandry specialists were selected and divided into two groups of 15.
One visited India and the other went to Thailand, each conducting field visits and in-depth exchanges for seven to eight days. These young individuals hail from diverse backgrounds, including agricultural economics, organic farming, agricultural extension, fruit and vegetable gardening, animal husbandry, aquaculture, honey and essential oil processing, and plant disease prevention and control.
In addition to students at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels in relevant fields, a number of participants have also been listed among Taiwan’s Top 100 Outstanding Young Farmers.
Others are second-generation immigrants, some speak Thai, and many have chosen New Southbound Policy partner nations as future destinations for starting or developing a business.
