Skip to main content top
::: Current Location: Home > News > Local News > Simplifying an Indigenous Crop—Taiwan djulis Mechanized Sowing

Simplifying an Indigenous Crop—Taiwan djulis Mechanized Sowing

2016-10-03

To promote the development of organic farming in Taitung, the Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station (TTDARES) of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan held the Taiwan Djulis Organic Cultivation and Mechanized Sowing Demonstration Event on the morning of September 23 in Jialan Village of Jinfeng Township. 92 people interested in growing Taiwan djulis organically attended. Taiwan djulis is native to Taiwan and can be found throughout the island. It has traditionally been cultivated by the Paiwan and Rukai tribes, and it is now mainly grown in Taitung and Pingtung. The plant has three distinct features: the ears are a bright variety of colors, it is highly nutritious, and the plants are largely free from serious disease and pest threats, which means development of the crop is worth the effort. Since the plant’s ears and leaves are full of color, it turns the fallow land or hillsides on which it is grown into a beautiful sea of color when mature, giving the local landscape a majestic, lovely feel. Through this demonstration event, the TTDARES hopes that farmers will be encouraged to grow more of the crop at lower costs. The event dealt with organic cultivation management techniques, nutrition, and common diseases/pests for Taiwan djulis. So far, there are no approved agrochemicals to fight disease and pests for this plant, so when such problems first begin to occur, biological control methods should be used; pesticides may not be used as they will leave residue. Finally, a new form of machinery used in sowing the plant was introduced. Currently, growers usually sow by hand or by means of powered machinery that is not fully automated, but these methods lead to high costs later on in the area of weed management. In contrast, when seeds are sown with the self-propelled small grain sower developed by the TTDARES, it only takes 0.51 hours to sow 0.3-0.4 kilograms of seed on 0.1 hectare of land, and the amount of fuel used is 0.23-0.25 liters. This new machinery allows for quick line sowing which not only saves on the amount of seed used, but also makes later weed management easier. All in all, it is the perfect helpmate for the Taiwan djulis grower!

Deputy-Director Chen Yu-chu welcomes attendees and discusses the objectives of the event. TTDARES assistant researcher Huang shares organic cultivation techniques of Taiwan djulis. TTDARES assistant researcher Xu discusses disease and pest prevention techniques for Taiwan djulis.

TTDARES associate technician introduces the Taiwan djulis sower. Taiwan djulis sower in use in the field.

Back to Top