Agriculture in Taiwan

From archaeological sites in Changbin Township, Taitung County, since Paleolithic Age around 30,000-50,000 years ago, people hunted, fished and gathered.

Only in the Neolithic Age around 5,000-2,000 years ago, did people began to live their sedentary lifestyle where they grew rice and other crops and domesticated animals.

[4] During the rule of Koxinga in the Kingdom of Tungning in the late 17th century, the number of immigrants from China to Taiwan increased to 200,000 people.

The eighteen century official Chiang Yun-chuan was responsible for significant improvements in irrigation and flood control in southern Taiwan and was incorporated into the local folk religion as a deity.

[8] After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China in 1945, the government revitalized the agricultural sector first to recover from the damage caused by World War II and completed a full recovery by 1953.

[9] The government extended agricultural facilities and introduced the land reform program under the Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction.

Also in the 1960s, the government shifted their priority to the development of export-oriented economic policy which focused on labor-intensive industries, such as textiles, convenience food and consumer electronics which eventually made Taiwan part of the Four Asian Tigers, along with British Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.

In the 1980s, much farmland was left idle due to the emigration of people from rural to urban areas as well as Taiwan beginning to open up to staple food imports.

[11] While the importance of agriculture to the Taiwanese economy has declined greatly from its heyday Taiwan has become a global leader in the vertical farming industry.

The vertical farming industry benefits from the high concentration of LED, robotics, engineering, and data processing firms in Taiwan.

[14] In 2020 the Taiwanese government's Council of Agriculture set aside NT$5 billion (US$166.21 million) in loans for produce, livestock and aquaculture operations as well as other agriculture-based enterprises effected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The modern industry was kickstarted by Chiu Ming-sung a betel nut farmer and chocolatier from Pingtung who in 2007 became the first on Taiwan to make tree-to-bar chocolate.

[25] The first coffee plants on Taiwan were imported by the British to Tainan in 1884 with the first significant small scale cultivation taking place in New Taipei City's Sanxia District.

[26] Domestic production is small but of high quality, imported beans account for the vast majority of coffee sold in Taiwan.

[33] By 1984 there were 34,000 hectares of citrus orchards in Taiwan annual yields of 360,000 metric tons with mandarin oranges and tangerines leading in production.

President Ma Ying-jeou even personally contributing $80,000 NTD to support an orchard in Gukeng township in Yunlin County as a result of the glut.

Academic Yen Chung-Ruey is known as Taiwan's “Father of Pitaya.”[42] Most of the production is consumed domestically but dragonfruit are also exported to Canada, China and Hong Kong.

The Irwin mango was first grown in Taiwan in 1962 by Cheng Han-chih (鄭罕池) in Douliuzai Village, Yujing District, Tainan.

With liberalization following the end of military rule independent winemakers became legal in 2002 and in 2014 a Taiwanese wine won its first gold medal at an international competition.

[54] Grape harvest in Taiwan is dictated by the typhoon season which means growers are sometimes forced to pick less than ripe fruit.

Taiwanese researchers have bred firmer, larger, and more deeply red varieties of the wax apple to appeal to the local market and growing conditions.

[63] Vegetable production is increasingly the focus of urban agriculture including vertical farming due to the desire to maximize crop yield from relatively small plots without using excessive amounts of pesticides or fertilizers.

Increased production is also driven by a desire to minimize Taiwanese dependence on other countries as sources of fresh produce, especially high value vegetables.

Cultivation of sweet potato reached its height during the Japanese colonial period with Taiwan ranking fourth in output from 1934 to 1938 after China, Japan, and the United States with 3.7% of world production.

In 1991 the World Vegetable Center chose to end its sweet potato research due to high costs and other institutions with a tighter focus coming into existence.

[72] The export oriented flower market suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic with an increase in domestic consumption and government support necessary to keep the industry profitable.

[8] The traditional method of feeding pigs with food scraps has been restricted to the most advanced farms due to concerns about African swine fever.

[77] Chicken and egg producers have had a hard time scaling to meet demand because of issues with disposing of large amounts of waste products.

Taiwan exports around US$5 billion worth of agricultural products annually to Canada, Mainland China, Japan, Middle East Singapore and United States.

Agricultural Credit Guarantee Fund (Chinese: 農業信用保證基金) is responsible for financing farmers without enough collateral to acquire working capital.