Taiwan Today

Orchid plantations in southern Taiwan endured devastating damage throughout the August 8 flooding and mudslide disasters caused by Typhoon Morakot. Orchid farms along the banks of the Jiangjun River in Tainan County in the townships and villages of Madou, Xiaying and Beimen were particularly hard hit. Ox Orchids Farm in Xiaying Township saw its greenhouse flooded to as high as 180 centimeters, wiping out nearly 90 percent of the plants being grown there. The losses were estimated at around NT$20 million (US$610,000) by the owner. The immersed orchids continue to be damaged by insects and pests, turning the leaves of the plants yellow and rotten. To address the issue, the Floriculture Research Center under the Council of Agriculture's Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute held a post-disaster reconstruction conference in Madou Township earlier this week. The proprietors from about 30 businesses that were impacted by the disaster attended the seminar. The chairman of the Taiwan Orchid Growers Association, Lee Cang-yu, said that in many cases the flower beds for the orchids are at a height of 75 centimeters off the ground, a height that had been safe from flooding before. As a result, local orchid growers had no experience rescuing their plants from such a disaster. The damage accounts for nearly 10 percent of all local orchid plantations, and the flooded orchids cannot be exported; they are not accepted by the domestic market because of color, either. Given that orchid farming is considered a high capital industry, Lee hopes that the government will raise the amount of financial aid as well as provide low-interest loans to help ravaged orchid businesses in the area weather the difficulties. Lee remarked that Taiwanese orchids boast an annual export value of approximately US$100 million to US$200 million, with the U.S. and Japan being the major markets. Lee commented that although the volume of orders received by some disaster-affected growers has been impacted, orchid exports as a whole have not been affected because the quality of Taiwan-grown orchids is already recognized worldwide. In Taiwan, each ping (36 square feet) of an orchid greenhouse costs between NT$10,000 and NT$20,000, a high price paid to also require that the facilities be able to withstand natural disasters as well, says Lin Feng-pei, the secretary general of the Taiwan Orchid Growers Association. Since Taiwan frequently experiences such storms, Lin recommended that the government establish an agricultural insurance system to protect related businesses or personnel from suffering further from such natural disaster-caused financial damages.