Gray-haired Dr. S.C. Shih, director of TSRI, holds office, in a time-worn red-brick building, its faded glory paralleling the course of sugar and rice here. Both were once the pillars of the Taiwan economy, the former strictly for domestic consumption, the sugar mainly for export. Before Taiwan's industrialization began in 1963, sugar was the island's leading foreign exchange earner, contributing as much as 80 percent of total hard cash earnings in peak years.
According to TSRI spokesman Bau Hann-ing, during the Yuan Dynasty, which was founded by Genghis Khan, the Chinese on Taiwan were known for "making sea water into salt and turning cane into sugar." During the period of Dutch occupation, from 1642 to 1661, sugar-refining techniques were introduced from Fukien Province across the Taiwan Straits, and sugar became a major export item.
When Koxinga recovered Taiwan from the Dutch, he introduced new varieties of cane for commercial planting on the island, making Taiwan a major supplier to the Pacific sugar market. Leading customers at that time were Japan and the Philippines. At that time, manpower, animals, and grindstones were the sinews of manufacturing. When the Japanese occupied Taiwan in 1895, planting techniques were improved and modern refineries were built, pushing production up to third place in the world.
During the early days following Taiwan's Retrocession, Japanese technicians were retained in the sugar refineries. An orderly transfer of operational control from the Japanese was completed when the Taiwan Sugar Corporation was established on May 1, 1946. Taisugar worked hard to restore and expand the refining facilities, up to more than 40, and to cultivate better varieties of cane,
As the Republic of China underwent rapid industrial and business development, agriculture gradually receded to second rank. Today, sugar exports account for less than one percent of the country's total foreign exchange earnings. With the closing down of several sugar plants in the northern section of the island, only 25 Taisugar plants remain.
Founded in 1901, TSRI's current responsibilities are, today, heavier than ever, for two reasons: First, the limited tillable land in Taiwan necessitates TSRI study of techniques to raise as much sugarcane as possible per hectare of usable land. Second, the warm climate of the island is conducive to more than 50 cane diseases and insect pests. So the institute must continue to cultivate new and resistant species via systematic study.
Today, TSRI is one of the leading sugar experimental laboratories in the world-the three others are situated in Hawaii, Australia, and South Africa. The sugar-production countries meet once every three years to exchange research reports, the Republic of China publishing more than 20 reports on the average for each meeting.
The institute is staffed by 150 degree-holding researchers, 190 technicians, and 60 other managerial-level personnel. They engage in such work as regional identification of select sugarcane varieties based on adaptability to ecological conditions; developing farm machines to forward mechanization of sugarcane cultivation; disposing of and/or utilizing such materials as hog manure, waste water, and sludge in the cane fields; chemical weed control, developing down-stream products from sucrose, reinforcing the utilization of such by-products as molasses, bagasse, etc.
Among major lessons TSRI has learned is the deliberate avoidance of reliance on one strain of sugarcane, which may result in the devastation of a species at one stroke. Since Taiwan's Retrocession, 830 strains of sugarcane have been introduced from Hawaii, the Philippines, Australia, and South Africa. One of the most successful, called N:Co 310, was donated by a South African experimental farm. By 1954, this new strain was grown on 81 percent of sugarcane farms in Taiwan. Despite its success, the role of this strain was reduced after 1959, as it was gradually replaced by improved varieties cultivated by Taisugar. Now, 98.6 percent of the cane farms have switched to new varieties.
According to Bau, the strains cultivated before the United States severed its official ties with the Republic of China in 1978 were designated "Formosa," or F in abbreviation. After 1978, all new strains were designated "ROC" for patriotic reasons. Among more than a dozen strains currently cultivated on the island, ROC-1 is of the best quality, featuring early maturity and high productivity and pest resistance.
Bau pointed out ROC 2, 3, and 4, newly developed for cultivation in saline, tidal, and adhesive soils respectively.
"You can't imagine how difficult our situation could be. With the government's building of new hydraulic power plants, farmers turned their backs to sugar production and towards rice growing. One reason was the cancellation of a guaranteed price. In the past, it was set at US$380 a ton. If the price on the world market was higher than the guaranteed price, a certain percentage of the balance was set aside for a price equalization fund, allowing Taisugar to subsidize and encourage cane farmers to improve their production techniques. If the export price was lower than the guaranteed price, the deficit was made up from the equalization fund.
"Today, the government has shifted similar support to the cultivation of rice. As a result, the sugarcane fields gave way to rice, and TSRI has focused on fostering new strains which can prosper in marginally fertile and high lands. For instance, if the level of underground water is high, we will have to develop plants with roots resistant to soaking in the water. As a matter of fact, the only ideal cane farms remaining for Taisugar are now located in the plains south of Chiayi County and in Pintung County. We are assigned 'mission impossible. We are working in every possible way—crass-breeding, radiation, and other-to meet the need. Under such circumstances, it is reasonable to expect that new strains—rather than being better than their predecessors—may only have some unique feature," Bau elaborated.
At a corner of the cane fields stands a uniquely architected structure surmounted by four tents. The Root Observation Laboratory is one of the most scientific and advanced of the institute's facilities.
Fronting the four tents are 16 squares of sugarcane plantation area. An opening to the left shows nights of staircases leading down to a basement. Yellow curtains hang along two walls, simulating the sleeping compartments of a midnight train, mysterious but serene.
Researchers enter the special basement at regular hours every day—some carrying pens and paper, some with cameras—to conduct observations and make records through transparent glass walls designed to allow researchers to directly study the soil and growing sugar cane roots.
Founded in 1978, the Root Observation Laboratory is one of the very few such large-scope facilities in the world; it was one of the first labs to engage in root studies in the Far East. Different strains of sugarcane are planted on each of the 16 squares of land. Fitted over eight parallel rails in their floor areas and with plastic-awning tops, the four tents are equipped with moisture sensors in their four corners. An automatic control system sends the four tents on the rails to the back of the plantation areas to allow sunshine to pour in. When it rains, the sensors at once pass the message down to a control unit which directs the awnings forward to protect the experimental crop.
In this way, all conditions are under the researchers' control-including the quantity and quality of water, the amounts of water the roots are allowed to absorb, the time needed for the development of roots, the total displacement and the relationship between conditions above and under the ground. In the past, researchers would have to dig a hole in the field each time they wanted to observe the growth of a sugarcane's roots, but normally did so only once—when the cane was harvested. At present, TSRI researchers use different soils to experiment on the effects of varied fertilization and irrigation. Once the displacement and storage of water, as well as other conditions, are under control, the cane enjoys the best possible environment.
To facilitate the operation, researchers place a sheet of plastic cloth on top of the display windows and mark down root growth, old and new alike, on its surface. The windows have openings through which are passed the probes of many kinds of apparatus, including temperature and humidity meters set at differing ground depths. Data from the instruments indicate soil conditions at each point of growth.
To ensure that roots will grow along the windows, each display glass is set at a five-degree slant. One researcher remarked, "We can also watch the ants running here and there."
In another lab, several researchers buried themselves in studies of cell and tissue cultures. According to Professor Liu Ming-chin, TSRI has been carrying out a program applying tissue culture techniques to sugarcane improvement since 1970.
Another station of interests in TSRI is the center which studies effective control of downy mildew, culmicolous smut, leaf blight, white leaf, and mosaic diseases by determining the disease resistance of all new sugarcane varieties to be released. Besides establishing the system of parasitic nematode survey and control, the department has effectively controlled such pests as borers, wireworm, and white grub.
As we entered a lab, we saw one researcher leaning the upper half of her body over an elongated table. She thrust herself into a glass case through an opening, and picked up a brush to flick white fly and grubs from pest-infested leaves. Noticing the writer's curiosity, she explained: "You must have wondered why they fail to fly past me through the opening. Simple. The insects have a penchant to fly toward sources of light. Since I turn off the lights at my back, the pests only ram their heads against the glass." Somewhat unhappy over my expression of distaste, she picked up a small vacuum tube to suck in the white fly and grubs, one after another, head-counting all the way.
One department is responsible for working with baits for control of rats in the cane fields. Recalling a cat-size rat specimen in a flask in the display room, I am sure these particular researchers at TSRI will have a hard time ahead of them in their specialized effort to help the institute reach its final goal: bringing about a renaissance of the local sugar industry.