So as to help indigenous growers learn new agricultural techniques and information as well as guiding them on how to make use of their special cultural assets, the Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station (TTDARES) of the Executive Yuan’s Council of Agriculture cooperated with the Changbin Township Administration Office in holding the “Processing Technology Course for Indigenous People’s Special Crops” from August 18 to 20 on the second floor meeting room of the Changbin Township Administration Office.

At the event, TTDARES Deputy Director Chen Yu-chu stated that the TTDARES has integrated the core technologies of “indigenous features”, “early bumper crop harvesting”, and “organic lifestyle” in a mutually complementary relationship with the Taitung agricultural environment. The TTDARES has gone into tribal villages and actively participated in planning out classes that are based on the industry of each so as to promote their development.

The content of this course included cultivation, product development and utilization of millet, pigeon peas, and Taiwan quinoa. It further included concepts on agricultural product processing, concepts on joint production/sales and collective transportation/marketing, management concepts on the cultivation of roselles, concepts on indigenous crop development along the South-Link Highway, management concepts on the cultivation of organic rice, exchanges of ideas, and a general discussion. The event helped increase participants’ practical knowledge as they learned from each other on how to better manage the village agricultural industry and develop their unique features.