Hualien Rice Farmers Await Government Help For Mud-covered Fields

TaiwanPlus News

A month after a barrier lake breach inundated Guangfu Township in Hualien County, farmlands are among the last places on the cleanup plan. While authorities are offering a few lump-sum subsidies, some indigenous rice farmers who completely lost their livelihoods said the money is not enough to save their debris-filled fields.

Transcript

00:00They told her that you have to grow well. I will trust you.

00:05Treating her crops like her children,

00:08Dibu's Banai is one of the few farmers restoring upland rice grains

00:12endemic to this part of Taiwan

00:14and a nutritious ingredient for the local indigenous village, Fatan An.

00:18But everything changed on September 23rd,

00:21when a barrier lake in the mountains of Hualien burst,

00:24sending 60 million tons of muddy flood water

00:27into her village in Guangfu Township.

00:30Years of hard work was washed away in a single day.

00:33All that remained of the rarest of the upland rice plants

00:36was the small patch of land.

00:38While most fields in Fatan An village are almost completely clean up,

01:01some in neighboring Tafalong village have been largely neglected,

01:05as the damage may not be immediately visible.

01:08At first glance, this field of golden grains may seem normal,

01:12but if you look closer, there's a thick layer of mud

01:14filled with trash and debris covering the roots, suffocating the plants.

01:18What was supposed to be the harvest season has now become a source of headaches.

01:24Rice farmer Gati Giong said his family has been farming this land for generations,

01:29and the disaster this time was far worse than any typhoon damage they ever had to deal with.

01:34He said before he could even think about saving the crops or the soil underneath,

01:38the most urgent task now is to have professionals remove debris.

01:42Officials from the Agriculture Ministry have promised a series of lump sum subsidies,

02:09including those for broken-down farm equipment and tracks of flooded farmland.

02:15Presenting research on improving infertile land,

02:18they encouraged farmers to try planting in the gray mud,

02:21which they said has safe levels of heavy metals but needs a large nutrient boost.

02:25When we saw a sea of water, we believed that this soil has been changed.

02:32The soil has been changed.

02:34Of course, the soil has to be clean and clean.

02:37The soil has to be clean and clean and dry.

02:40Don't let it in the soil have to be clean and dry in the soil of the soil.

02:44It's possible to plant the plant.

02:47It's possible to plant the plant.

02:47It's possible to plant the plant in a large amount of waste of waste.

02:51But for farmers like Gati, who are facing heavy debts for their losses,

02:55all talks of land restoration comes down to ensuring a stable livelihood.

02:59With stretches of damaged fields awaiting recovery and bills to pay,

03:07the future of these farmers and their indigenous agricultural practices

03:12will be hanging in the balance.

03:13Devin Tsai, Luffy Lee, Joseph Wu, Alec McDonald, and Irene Lin in Kualien for Taiwan Plus.

03:20With stretches of damaged fields awaiting recovery and bills to pay,

03:25the future of these farmers and their indigenous agricultural practices

03:28will be hanging in the balance.

03:30Devin Tsai, Luffy Lee, Joseph Wu, Alec McDonald, and Irene Lin in Kualien for Taiwan Plus.

03:36D津man, Irene Lin in Kualien,

03:57D津man, D津man, Gatala, and Irene Lin in Kualien for Taiwan.

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