Taiwan

Mainland sends farmers to Taiwan for training

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-04 17:03

TAICHUNG - A group of 19 farmers from South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region started training courses on the latest agricultural technologies and management in Taiwan Sunday.

During their 10-day stay in Taichung, central Taiwan, they would learn from Taiwan agricultural experts, share experience with local farmers and visit local farms, said Zheng Mingpei, director of Guangxi's agriculture department, which sponsored the training courses.

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All of them are leading farm owners in Guangxi and some are heads of a local farmers association, Zhang said.

"I am interested in the management of tourism farms and I would like to learn how to operate eco-friendly farms. I have heard that Taiwan farmers do quite well in these two fields," said Zhang Zhenshou, a farmer from Pubei county, Guangxi.

He also wanted to learn about how Taiwan farmers associations organize farmers in production and marketing.

"Taiwan has a natural environment and climate similar to Guangxi. It is a leader in developing highly efficient agriculture, growing new species of plants and processing produce. These are all worth learning," said Guo Shengkun, secretary of the Guangxi Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China, who attended the opening ceremony. He has been in Taiwan for a formal visit since Thursday.

If Guangxi wanted to develop modern agriculture, farmers needed to improve their knowledge and update their ideas about management and marketing, Guo said. "We hope such training can be regular."

Guangxi plans to launch such training courses annually in the next five years, said Zhang Mingpei. Every year a total of 100 farmers would come to Taiwan, divided into five groups, each with 20 persons.

"Taiwan's agriculture operates in a different way from the mainland. In the past 80 years, we have tried very hard to improve our efficiency and develop our farmers associations. I think mainland farmers can learn something and apply it to their own business," said Chang Yung-cheng, chief executive officer of Taiwan Provincial Farmers Association, which jointly sponsored the courses with Guangxi.

Mainland and Taiwan farmers could not only learn from each other, but also have better understanding of each other's agricultural development, which would benefit cross-Strait agricultural cooperation, he said.