Taiwan Today

China embarked on a new phase of international cooperation this month as a group of young farmers left for Africa on a unique agricultural mission. The 14 farmers and a team leader will set up an experimental farm in Liberia to demonstrate Chinese methods of growing rice, vegetables, and other crops.

This is not only an important step in Sino-African relations, but an innovation in people-to-people goodwill missions. China has sent technicians and specialists on advisory or exploratory missions to Africa but not on a long-term, really practical basis. Success will bode well for closer ties with other countries of Africa.

Departure of the farmers climaxed a year of exploratory contacts and talks. A goodwill mission to Liberia originally suggested that Liberian agricultural experts come to Taiwan to see the fruitful results of advanced farming techniques. Late in March of this year, a three-man Liberian mission arrived to discuss technical cooperation with the Chinese Ministry of Economic Affairs. At the close of a weeklong visit, Liberian Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, Stephen Tolbert, leader of the mission, suggested that a Chinese group be sent to Liberia to examine the agricultural situation and help formulate a program of development and expansion.

A seven-man Chinese agricultural team made a field trip into the interior of Liberia last summer. The mission was headed by a farm machinery expert, F.C. Ma of the Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction. The seven men were specialists in various fields of agriculture.

After a two-month study of Liberian farming, the team submitted a 70-page report suggesting that a group of farmers be sent to Liberia to set up an experimental farm.

A demonstration farm was considered the most appropriate means of assistance. The language barrier is less of a problem when demonstration is the basis of teaching. Visual education also was adjudged effective for the many African farmers who are deficient in formal schooling. Those reluctant to adopt new ways could be persuaded by the first bountiful harvest or two.

The Chinese mission also selected a site for the farm, and made extensive notes on improvements to be made in soil conditioning and cultivation methods.

Liberia is a land of swamps and rain forests. Situated along the southwestern coast of the African continental bulge, it has an area of 43,000 square miles, a coastline of 350 miles, and a width of 70 to 190 miles.

Topographically, the country is divided into three major regions. Low lands, watered by lagoons and many tidal creeks, undulate inland from the sea for about 50 miles. Beyond lies a plateau region which gradually ascends to 5,000 feet.

 

 

Many Inland Swamps

The land is characterized by a lack of well-developed valleys and flood plains. There are many small inland swamps created by poor drainage, several big tidal swamps, and a predominance of rolling countryside.

Liberia lies close to the equator, but its climate is tempered by sea breezes along the coast and high altitudes in the interior. Last year, the average annual temperature was 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

The report of the Chinese mission emphasized that Liberia has rich natural endowments. Farmers are blessed with a year-round growing season, ample rainfall and sufficient land for expansion. The mission believes Liberian agriculture is in a good position to meet domestic demands and to develop a processing industry to provide export foods.

All is not perfect, however. Some handicaps are natural, others social. The Liberian climate is sharply divided into dry and rainy seasons. November to April is dry, May to October wet. This phenomenon is specially marked in the coastal area. Annual rainfall of 70 to 180 inches is concentrated in the wet season and along the coast. Crops will obviously be affected.

Another interesting consideration is too much sunshine all the time. The sun is in the sky an average of twelve hours a day throughout the year. Some plants shy away from too much sunlight for too long.

Liberia has a population of 2,750,000 according to a government census. But other estimates put the figure lower. Approximately five per cent are descendants of settlers who came from the United States in 1822 and afterward. The rest are native tribal peoples. Although the official language is English, aborigines retain their tribal tongues.

Nearly 90 per cent of the population gains a livelihood from agriculture, and almost half of the remaining 10 per cent is engaged in allied occupations. Agriculture is clearly the backbone of the nation's economy, although iron mines and some other industries are expanding.

Despite the large numbers engaged in farming, output is sufficient for only local consumption. This is partly due to natural limitations, but also to lack of farming skills and the persistence of outdated methods. Rubber, palm kernels, peassava (a palm whose leafstalk yields a strong fiber), coffee, and cocoa are virtually the only exports.

Swamp lands and wet and dry seasons call for irrigation projects with which the Liberians are not yet familiar. Relatively inferior soils require compost and green manure or commercial fertilizers, but native farmers are not yet versed in their use.

Social habit has accustomed the Liberian farmer to a form of farming called shifting agriculture or bush fallow. Trees are cleared from a patch of virgin land or secondary bush of from two to six acres. The land is used for crops only a year or two, until the soil is exhausted. The farmer then moves on to a fresh patch of land, leaving the used soil to rejuvenate itself without the help of fertilizer. This requires seven to twelve years.

Chinese experts said such abandonment of cleared acreage is wasteful of both land and labor. Also, farmers are moving to less desirable hillside lands as the amount of virgin soil or secondary bush diminishes.

The Liberian farmer usually works alone and his produce is sufficient only for himself and his immediate family. Little thought is given to commercial value of crops. Palm oil and tropical fruits are plentiful without extensive cultivation and sufficient to assuage hunger. Cassava is found in great quantities and the former lacks incentive.

Rice Is Staple Food

The staple food of the Liberians is rice. However, the amount consumed annually exceeds production by 30,000 tons. The Chinese mission suggested that production could be markedly increased. Inland swamps, which occupy about three per cent or 720,000 acres of the total land area, could produce enough rice to make up the deficit, the mission said.

To demonstrate the prospects for swamp land utilization, the Chinese experts chose 50 acres in the Gbedin area for the experimental farm. Gbedin is in the eastern part of the country, about 190 miles from the capital of Monrovia. Wet and dry seasons are less distinct at Gbedin, and the climate resembles central and southern Taiwan, whence come the 14 demonstration farmers.

This swamp land previously had been opened by an American experimental group. The Americans planted rice and achieved some degree of success. However, their use of such large farm machinery as tractors was not widely accepted by Liberian farmers and the experiment was canceled. Soon after the Americans left, the 500 acres of cultivated rice land were reclaimed by the wilderness.

For demonstration and experimental purposes, the farmers from China will operate only 50 acres of this land. If the farm prospers, it may be expanded to 100 acres.

Bushes covering the demonstration area are being removed under direction of the Liberian Department of Agriculture and Commerce. Land grubbing and leveling will be completed and irrigation work well under way by the end of the year.

Chinese demonstrators hope to begin by teaching Liberians seed treatment and the proper way of sowing, proper timing, planting depth, and row distance. The use of compost and fertilizers will be shown; the supporting, pruning, and blanching of vegetables; and various harvesting methods. New varieties of crops will be introduced.

Liberian farming is arduous. Tools are primitive and not always the most practical. Such modern equipment as field tractors, power tillers, water pumps, and sprinklers are used only at government agricultural experiment stations or on large plantations. The most widely used implements are short and long-handled hoes, made of wrought iron and with wooden handles; the cutlass; the chappie, a wrought iron strip bent to an angle at one end and wielded as a golf club to cut short grass; and a stick made of wood or twigs, with a wide angle cut on the fore end, to push rice seedlings into the earth without stooping.

The demonstration farm will introduce more efficient hand tools and provide instructions in their use. Chinese farmers also hope to introduce both animal and mechanical power. Small-sized tillers such as those used on Taiwan have been found to be practical in Liberia.

Most Liberian farmers know little of insect and crop disease control. Measures for control will be shown on the demonstration farm and Liberians will be trained in the handling of chemicals.

The 14 farmers will not work on individual farms during the first two years. Selected farmers from other areas will be living and working with them on the demonstration farm. These farmers will take part in all the experiments. After a year, they will return to their own communities to practice what they have learned. They will be demonstrators in their own villages. As new methods are taught in this way, the old, inefficient approaches to agriculture will disappear. Or so it is hoped.

After two years, seven of the demonstrators will go to farms selected by the Liberian government there to work with local farmers and continue demonstration of new methods.

The team will plant rice as its first major crop. Liberian farmers produce one crop of rice a year, compared with the two to three of Taiwan. Little or no crop rotation is practiced. Therefore, in the rainy season, the demonstration farmers will plant rice. In the dry season, they will try such diversified crops as sweet potatoes, peanuts, corn, soybeans, green manure crops and several varieties of vegetables.

The Agricultural Mission

The 14 farmers are led by Chow Mai, a horticulturist. A 1948 graduate of Nanking's National Central University, he operates a 12-acre farm at Yangmingshan, a northern suburb of Taipei, producing vegetables, citrus fruits, some field crops, and many varieties of ornamental plants. The 39-year-old team leader was a member of the mission to Liberia last summer.

Other team members are Chiu Feng-huei, Wu Pai-lin, Wu Ping-huei, Lin Chi-cheng, Lien Cheng-hsuan, Lee Yueh-chu, Hung Yen-feng, Chen Ming-yen, Cheng Yuan, Wu Chung-hsien, Chiang Ching-po, Hsu Shih-kung, Cheng Sun-yi, and Lee Hsiung-kang. All are in their late twenties or early thirties. Each has a basic knowledge of English acquired in secondary school.

Farmers were chosen in a competition sponsored by the Provincial Formers' Association, the JCRR, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Eligibility was limited to graduates of an agricultural school engaged in farming and with at least three years of field experience. Health and department requirements also were strict.

Examinations included oral and written questions and field tests. They were required to show ability in rice cultivation, horticulture, and other phases of agriculture. One field test took them over mountains and country trails with heavy loads to prove stamina and endurance.

As a result of the rigid weeding-out process, those chosen are earnest workers, looking forward to the improvement of themselves and their profession. Several are active in the Provincial Farmers' Association or 4-H Clubs. Three have been to the United States for periods ranging from six months to a year in the international 4-H young farmers' exchange program.

Three are skilled in carpentry, one in masonry, one in iron work, five in vehicle operation, nine in first .aid, ten in cooking, eight in sewing, seven in electrical work, and five in food processing.

Intensive training was given for five weeks in September and October. Attending the Tienmou Agricultural and Training Center, they studied from eight in the morning until nine at night. Each day started with two hours of English. Lectures were given on specialized agriculture. They were brought up to date on operation and repair of farm machinery, plant diseases, rice cultivation, fertilizers, land reform, public health and sanitation, and first aid. They also learned about Liberian soil, farming methods of Liberia, and possible ways of adaptation.

In the evenings the 14 learned other skills that should be of value in Liberia. They will be living a self-contained life on their demonstration farm, washing their own clothes and cooking their own meals. They were taught effective and labor-saving methods of doing both. They even will be their own barbers.

Ambassadors of Goodwill

Aside from teaching example, the young men from halfway around the world will be expected to act as people-to-people ambassadors of good will. With this in mind, they spent many evenings learning and practicing Chinese folk songs and dances. During evenings of fellowship in Liberia, they will be able to hold their own in display of native arts.

China is looking forward eagerly to the experiment and is confident of an understanding success.

Team leader Chow Mai said, "We will introduce China's farming experience—and new ideas—to Liberia.

"No less important will be the goodwill generated by this people-to-people exchange. We are taking the Chinese people to the Liberians."

William Green, extension chief of JCRR, put it this way: "You will draw the world's attention because you are going to perform an unprecedented mission. In many countries scientists and experts are sent abroad as technical aids, but China is now sending farmers to fulfill the duty. It is no exaggeration to say that the world's eyes are now on you all."

A Taipei daily newspaper remarked, "The Chinese are sending a goodwill mission to Liberia with the help of people who do not wear the badge of diplomacy—swallow-tail coats—but who take with them the badge of hard work and earnestness, calloused hands and bare feet."

It's a refreshing approach and—China is convinced—a promising idea.