12 / 98
12
Agricultural projects have been
an important category of foreign
aid for Taiwan ever since 1959,
when Taiwan dispatched its first
agricultural technical team to
Vietnam. With previous agricultural
projects responding to the first MDG,
the eradication of extreme poverty
and hunger, agricultural projects
currently make up some 65 percent
of all TaiwanICDF projects, and
primarily focus on production. In
recent years, in response to global
initiatives on the impact of climate
change and the post-2015 SDGs,
our approach toward agricultural
projects has not only involved
raising partner countries’ production,
distribution and sales capacity, but
has also become oriented toward
needs driven increasingly by
regional characteristics and phased
development, providing appropriate
solutions and deepening cooperative
relationships with professional
international institutions.
Projects Commensurate with
Development Needs
After many years of practical
experience, the TaiwanICDF’s
agricultural projects, which have
ma i n l y f ocused on ass i s t i ng
local people, have amassed rich
experience for our organization. We
are presently expanding on past
successes, and, in accordance
with the crop production and
marketing process, progressing from
assistance by expanding distribution,
toward seedling production, and
downstream, toward agricultural
product transportation and sales.
Taking seedling production as an
example, our Rice Seed Production
Capacity Enhancement Project
in Haiti builds on the depths of
the Taiwan Technical Mission’s
previous success in local agriculture
extension, linking up Taiwan’s
experience of producing healthy
seedlings and providing healthy rice
seeds and professional capacity
building, deepening and increasing
the impact of the project.
Additionally, as partner countries
become more developed, their
needs relating to agricultural projects
also change. In the past, partner
countries were looking to increase
the production of staple crops, but
at their current stage many are
increasingly concerned with the
quality and nutritional value of their
crops. In terms of improving crop
quality, our Vegetable, Fruit and
Upland Crop Quality and Safety
Improvement Project in St. Kitts and
Nevis, for example, has introduced
Taiwanese systems for the rapid
detection of pesticide residues,
providing assurances in terms
of the production of agricultural
produce. Elsewhere, the climate
of Pacific island nations is not
wholly appropriate for large-scale
commercial production, and so the
TaiwanICDF has introduced the
concept of a balanced diet linked
to local lifestyles. Our Horticulture
Project in Kiribati, for example, has
been successfully promoted, in
depth, having blended with local
living patterns. The project has
also trained local seedling staff,
increasing revenues and reducing
dependence on imported foodstuffs.
The TaiwanICDF’s cooperation
with professional international
organizations has also tended
toward diversification and closer
ties; combining existing international
resource networks and Taiwan’s
a reas o f expe r t i se can he l p
partner countries in engaging in
sustainable agricultural production.
For instance, the Regional Lending
Program for Coffee Rust in Central
America, a cooperative project
being implemented with the Central
American Bank for Economic
Integration (CABEI), is using the
region’s current banking resources
network and Taiwan’s experience
i n p l an t d i s ea s e s and pe s t
management, re-lending capital to
small-scale farmers so that they can
replace coffee plants and prevent
disease and insect pests, and
thereby reduce the impact of coffee
rust on the local coffee industry.
Agriculture
1 To reduce the coffee rust epidemic in
Central America, the TaiwanICDF has
been visiting plantations to confirm the
site of outbreaks and to propose possible
interventions.
2 The establishment of a seedling nursery in
Kiribati has supported self-sufficiency and
generated income.
1
2