Taiwan Today

The Republic of China has dis­patched more farmers than diplomats abroad in its efforts to win the friendship of foreign countries. The farm diplomacy began 21 years ago under an extensive program of technical cooperation.

The first group of farmers was sent to Liberia to teach African counterparts to reclaim land, build irrigation facilities and grow rice.

Before departure, they were given eight weeks of training. Among the sub­jects were haircutting, bricklaying and the adaptation to chili-spiced dishes. They were prepared to live in remote areas in close communion with those they were teaching.

The technical cooperation program began with agriculture for the following reasons:

- The Republic of China has a long history and rich experience in farming. Since the central government moved to Taiwan after Communist usurpation of the mainland, it has carried out a highly successful program of land reform and farm improvement. Rule-of-thumb farming methods are easily applied in ag­riculturally backward nations. Taiwan farm machinery is more practical than the expensive equipment of Western nations.

-Most African nations have vast ex­panses of virgin land. They need to build up agriculture before concentrating on industrial development.

The success of the farmers dis­patched to Liberia won wide acclaim. They introduced better crops, taught im­proved techniques and systems, har­nessed water resources, demonstrated the use of farm machinery and provided cost-accounting know-how.

Agricultural cooperation subsequent­ly was expanded to include fishery, animal husbandry, handicrafts, sugar refining, wine making and irrigation engineering.

Because technical cooperation plays such an important role in ROC foreign relations, it is supported by all govern­ment agencies, and the government is es­pecially careful in recruiting members for its technical cooperation missions. Members of farm demonstration teams must be graduates of agricultural senior high schools and have three years of field experience. Ages must be between 25 and 35. Mission leaders are college graduates.

When many African nations estab­lished relations with Communist China, the Republic of China shifted its focus of technical cooperation from Africa to Latin America. There are 12 technical cooperation missions in the Americas, each with its own specializations.

One of the most successful is the mission in Costa Rica. Established in 1972, it has 20 members and is headquar­tered at San Jose. There is a branch at Coto Sur and two smaller stations at San Isidro and Upala.

Coto Sur is located in the deep south of Costa Rica and was chosen because it is remote and underdeveloped. The mis­sion occupies three dormitory buildings of a defunct banana company. The re­maining 20 buildings are used by Costa Rican farmers.

The San Isidro mission leader, Wu Tien-lu, 46, is a veteran of ROC agricul­tural missions in Africa and Ecuador. "We operate a 30-hectare demonstration farm consisting of 23 hectares of farm­land, a one-hectare fishpond and a small area for raising hogs. Facilities include warehouses, roads and irrigation and drainage canals. We grow soybeans, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes and stockfeed," he stated.

This is a diversified farming system. Grains are used to feed hogs and fish and thereby increase farm income.

Diversified farming is very successful in Taiwan but has not done so well in the San Isidro district, where farmers are not used to making full use of land. They regard diversified farming as too trouble­some. They prefer extensive farming. This involves burning off the weeds and perfunctory plowing. Once the land is sown, there is nothing to do until the har­vest. If the yield is to be increased, the land has to be plowed more deeply and needs weeding, irrigation and pest con­trol. Planting distances must be equalized.

Hog raising is not highly regarded. With ample land, the preference is for cattle, which do not need so much care. In raising hogs, farmers must build shel­ters, install plumbing for cleanliness, pre­pare feed and engage in two feedings daily. This is time-consuming and costly.

Fish culture is similarly troublesome. The farmer must dig a pond, install a pumping system and feed the fish daily. Costs and revenues must be reckoned before embarking on such a venture.

However, the Costa Rican govern­ment considers diversified farming as a highly important system for San Isidro. It obtained a World Bank loan for the project.

When Premier Sun Yun-suan visited Costa Rica two years ago, the Costa Ricans asked him for help.

"We are sent here mainly to help the local farmers," said the mission leader. It is easy for the mission to manage a demonstration farm, but not so easy to change the thinking and habits of local farmers, who are not necessarily im­pressed by demonstrations.

Ambassador Wu Wen-hui comment­ed: "Local farmers often ask: 'Why do Chinese farmers work hard from dawn to dusk?' They make money but do not spend the money they have made."

It is hard to explain that this is an es­sential part of the Chinese philosophy of life. Agriculture has been dominant in China for thousands of years. Men were taught to farm and women to weave cloth. For thousands of years, hard work has been a part of life and thinking. Those who do not work hard or indulge in pleasure-seeking are despised by their neighbors. This is still so among the mis­sion members, who come from villages. Agriculture was their major subject in school. They have spent their lives with the land, farming, and have developed affection for the soil and its products.

Because the thinking and habits of Costa Rican farmers are different, mem­bers of the agricultural mission have to knock on doors, make friends and urge adoption of the Chinese work ethic.

Hog raising is another major activity. According to Chung Jen-shen, leader of the project, who worked in Lesotho in southern Africa before being reassigned to Costa Rica, top priority goes to strengthening the management of hog shelters and improvement of the breed. He sold inferior hogs and used the money to buy better ones. He distributed improved piglets to local farmers.

The veterinarian tends to his hogs as an M.D. takes care of his patients. Wearing while overalls, he always keeps his stethoscope in his pocket. He never fails to carry medicines with him. "There is no hog cholera in Costa Rica," he said, "but intestinal diseases, pneumonia and skin diseases are endemic in the tropical climate."

When he visits local farmers, he often jumps into the pigsties to see whether piglets are well fed. He adminis­ters iron injections if piglets show signs of anemia. He tells farmers, "As it is very warm in summer, piglets are likely to lose their appetites. Better add a little roughage to their feed." This advice has been accepted by the farmers. He tells them to feed their hogs ramie stalks and leaves for the fiber.

Two of the mission members are graduates of the animal husbandry department of National Taiwan Universi­ty. They have extensive knowledge and experience in preparing feed. Farmers send sorghum and soybeans to them and ask for help.

Breeding records are meticulously kept. Close-kin breeding is carefully avoided. The veterinarian administers hormones to sows that secrete insufficient milk for their piglets. As more farmers become interested in raising hogs, the veterinarian has become deeply involved in their problems. To stretch his know-how, he conducts semi­nars and teaches his skills to fellow mem­bers of the mission.

Farmers have great respect for the veterinarian and often consult him before marketing their hogs. They will not sell their hogs if the veterinarian ad­vises them that the hogs are still growing.

Artificial insemination has been introduced. The number of boars can be reduced even as more piglets are pro­duced. This technique has been used in Taiwan for more than 30 years with great success.

There are 36 hog-raising households in the San Isidro district, and the Costa Rican government plans to increase the number to 100. The hard work and suc­cess of the farmers from the Republic of China are much admired.

The technical cooperation mission is headed by Yang Chien-nan, 44, a grad­uate of the department of agronomy at National Taiwan University. He spent two years in postgraduate work at the University of the Philippines. After re­turning to Taiwan, he joined the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center, then became a mission techni­cian. He was promoted to deputy chief and t hen chief of mission last year.

He is not so optimistic about diversi­fied farm management in Costa Rica, but says: "Our task is to help the host government and the local farmers. Di­versified farming is the policy of the host government, so we must dedicate our­ selves to it. Our people have encountered great difficulties but are overcoming them. Two or three years later, we shall turn over the project to the Costa Rican government. Then we can shift our emphasis to extension work with such crops as vegetables, maize and soy­ beans." He is proud of the dedication of his team.

In 1980, the mission was expanded to include a three-member fishing technical assistance group based at Pun­tarenas. This is Costa Rica's largest fishing port with more than 200 boats.

By March, 1982, the group had trained about 30 fishermen at a rate of two or three every month. By taking their knowledge back to their companies, these trainees have helped to improve catches and the livelihood of fishermen in general.

Besides teaching fishermen the use of modern techniques and gear, the group has established a marine process­ing plant in cooperation with a fisher­men's cooperative and a junior college. It will process fish balls, cakes and sticks.

Costa Rica has many bamboo thick­ets but has never made use of the tall grass. In 1981, a four-member team spe­cializing in bamboo growing and handi­crafts arrived in Costa Rica to launch a training program. The team gained in­stant approval by teaching farmers to make bamboo containers for coffee beans, a major export. Costa Rica formerly imported 50,000 bamboo crates annually.

Technicians will also teach Costa Ricans to make fruit trays, baskets and other handicraft products. Costa Rican bamboo is dark and is likely to warp, so it is not good for furniture. The mission has imported new varieties of bamboo and locked into other locally available materials for furniture and additional products of high value. In March of this year, some 50 bamboo handicraft items made by trainees were shown at the 8th Costa Rican Handicraft Exhibition and attracted great attention.

The Costa Rican story is widely repeated in other countries of Central America. Since the Liberian beginnings, the approach has been the same - not so much to preach or tell, but to demonstrate; to show what can be done by hard work, intelligently applied. Not all of those cooperating with the Republic of China may be aware of it, but that is how the Taiwan "economic miracle" began. In 1945, when the island was retroceded to the Republic of China by the Japanese, agriculture was dominant. So the Taiwan success story had to begin on the farm­ first with land reform and then with di­versification, mechanization, land con­solidation and a generally scientific approach.

In the end, this led to capital for in­dustrial development and a much smaller but more prosperous and productive agri­cultural community. The heavy and so­phisticated industries and big cities of Taiwan all came from the farm, which now accommodates less than a third of the 18.5 million people of the world's second most densely populated land.