President Chen received the top ten Taiwanese agriculturists at the 29th National Prominent Agriculturists Meeting this morning and thanked them for their outstanding contributions.
President Chen said that Taiwan needed to think long-term if it wanted to expand its foreign fruit market. He emphasized that Taiwan had to target more profitable markets such as Japan, Singapore, Europe and America, as well as, continue to improve the quality of Taiwanese fruit to ensure competitiveness.
The president's speech:
I would first like to thank Kiwanis Taiwan for organizing this annual event, already in its 29th year. Each year awards are presented with the highest honors to those who exhibit excellence in the field of agriculture, forestry, fishery, pasturage, breeding and environmental protection. Among the top ten agriculturists recognized this year, I am proud to say that eight are serving under the council of Agriculture. There is an old adage that says "he who is hungry is never a good civil servant," meaning a civil servant's work is not driven by pursuit of fame or wealth, but rather by the pure and honest ambition of contributing to the people of our country. Therefore, the gentlemen being awarded today represent this virtue and we are thankful for their services.
You are experts in the prevention of diseases in pigs and volunteered for 20 years around the island to ensure the health of Taiwan's livestock without receiving a dime. You are the devoted inspectors who quarantined plants and animals and protected Taiwan from the threat of mad cow disease. You are the specialists in the modification of the taro and the eggplant genes and devised the method to distill a special kind of rice. You are the scientists who studied organic fertilizers and helped create laws on organic cultivation. You introduced Taiwan's pineapple and the "Ilan leek" to the international market and made it famous. You researched the protein contained in a fish's scale and developed an ingredient of high economic value for our cosmetic industry. You are behind Taiwan's many agricultural miracles.
You have also devoted yourselves to the development and application of aerial surveying technology, providing farming villages with information to prevent damages caused by natural disasters and revitalizing the economy in these communities by introducing leisure agriculture. Those of you in the floral and fruit industry have also aggressively strived to expand Taiwan's international marketability. Finally, a section chief from the water and environmental protection bureau, who devoted himself to the rescue and reconstruction efforts after the devastating September 21st earthquake, combined his expertise in landslide prevention with the construction techniques of local farmers in order to improve the infrastructure of farming villages. He also organized the "Taiwan Coffee Festival" held in Huashan Village in Yunlin's Kukeng. You have taught me about the professionalism and passion of Taiwan's agriculturists; and you have shown me that your efforts are the reasons for Taiwan's success and competitiveness in agriculture.
Even though Taiwan's agricultural industry faces many challenges, it is still full of hope and vitality. We have the best and the most hard-working agriculturists, however, due to the sheer scale of our agricultural model, our production costs are higher than normal. Thus, when dealing with the pressures of international competition, Taiwan's agricultural trade must adopt a policy of "less quantity, more varieties and higher prices." I recently read an article where an agriculturist in Tainan named Wu Ching-chin, a member of the "30th Chung Hsing fruit culturing and production class," successfully created a standard operating procedure for the mango, making the fruit internationally competitive and him rich. Wu grew mangoes for more than 30 years, and at the start was often very disappointed with his unsatisfactory returns in the domestic market. He referred to the disaster in 1995 and 1996 when mangoes in Taiwan were over produced and the price per kilo fell to NT$8 or 9; those mangoes that were not sold were eventually thrown into the river.
A contract was signed between the "30th Chung Hsing fruit culturing and production class" and a dealer. Aggressively pursuing to enter the Japanese fruit market, they began to regulate the day-to-day operations and improve the quality of the plantation. They introduced the practice of detailed record keeping at each step of production, including the fertilization of fruits, spraying of insecticide, pruning, deflowering and harvesting so as to provide accountability to its consumers. They also utilized a steam cooking mechanism that addressed the Japanese authorities' security concerns. The "Chung Hsing fruit culturing and production class's" mangoes successfully cleared Japanese inspection and were in Tokyo markets priced at NT$90 per kilogram, selling NT$20 to NT$30 higher than other fruits. However, the "Chung Hsing fruit culturing and production class" was not satisfied, they wanted to obtain ISO-2000 certification. Wu's wife said that the sustainable development of the mango would not depend on the Taiwanese market, but rather the international market, so he stressed the need to be internationally certified.
The success story of the "30th Chung Hsing fruit culturing and production class" is Taiwan's best example of positive agricultural reforms; however, maintaining these improvements require mango farmers to work harder than others. Even if Taiwan fruits enjoy duty-free access in China, sustaining the quality of our products is imperative to remaining competitive in a Chinese fruit market that is inundated with similar fruits already imported from Southeast Asia.
The inspection and threshold of food security in China are comparatively low to that of Japan's restrictions. Once Chinese consumers lose interest in Taiwanese fruits, the margin for profits immediately disappears and these fruits undoubtedly fall into the vicious cycle of price competition; whereas the market share in the Japanese market is more stable as the threshold is much higher. Once the product is capable of entering the Japanese market, it can maintain its share; however, although Taiwan fruits have established a profitable market niche with Japanese consumers, the fruit's price remains constant. Therefore, Taiwan must value long-term goals over short-term interests. We must target the Japanese, Singaporean, European and American market to ensure we continue to improve Taiwan's competitive edge in the international fruit market.
The Council of Agriculture and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council also helped agriculturists promote their products these past years. At the exhibition of Taiwanese summer fruits held at the Taipei World Trade Center a couple of days ago, many fruit dealers from Japan, Korea and Singapore were invited. There were 110 face-to-face discussions between sellers and buyers, promoting the products coming from 21 different districts of the island. This opportunity allowed sellers and buyers to have direct contact and build solid business partnerships. The government serves to protect the interests of our farmers and guarantees the best price and buyer, and in return, asks that you, the agriculturists, grow quality fruit.
Finally, I would like to congratulate each of the agriculturists and thank Kiwanis Taiwan for their unwavering support.