Taiwan Today

One of the world's most unusual experi­ments in international cooperation is under way at the Asian Vegetable Re­search and Development Center near Tai­nan in southern Taiwan. Six countries are participating in the effort to grow more and better vegetables. Success in research projects holds out the promise of a better diet for Asian peoples liv­ing in tropical lands that now provide low levels of nutrition. Six major veg­etables were chosen for initial experimentation. As work with these is com­pleted, other varieties will be selected for study. Although emphasis is placed on cultivation under tropical conditions, the Center's work also has value for the farmers of temperate Korea and Japan. At left: Top, President Yen Chia-kan of the Republic of China (then Vice President) attended the dedication ceremony in 1973 and was greeted by Dr. Robert F. Chandler Jr., the Center's first director. Center, leading agronomists of Asia and the West attended the dedi­cation. Bottom: Headquarters of the Center, which has living accommodations for staff, students and visiting experts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Opposite page, from top left, clock­wise: Some machinery is used at the Center but the accent is on methods employed by the farmers of Asia; so water buffalo are often borrowed from neighboring farms for the plow­ing. Weeding is important in the cul­tivation of vegetables; chemicals are useful but no substitute for the per­sonal attention of the farmer. Field work is the heart of the Center's en­deavors; everything must be carefully noted and checked. Screening may be better than spraying in protecting vegetables from flying insects. Rain-­birds provide a controlled means of gentle irrigation. This page, from top to bottom: The Center employs about 350 workers, most of whom learned to produce vegetables on farms of their own. Cross-pollenization can produce new varieties and the Center engages in much work of this sort; the magnifying glasses help technicians carry out experimentation with a minimum of errors. Experimental plots must be labeled and numbered to assure the scientific accuracy of the work. Re­sults of some studies indicate that vegetable production can be materially increased in the Asian tropics and the living standard of millions raised.

Before and after field work, the Center's lab­oratories became the cynosure of agronomists assigned to the Vegetable Research and Devel­opment Center. Equipment is the best and the know-how is unexcelled. Students come from all over the world to observe and learn. Research is developing hardier and more productive plant varieties. Problems of irrigation and soil en­richment are being solved. Diseases and insects are being combated. (See story in this issue.)