Green Shoots of Success

Jiji Bamboo Shoot PMG

One of the stories of filial piety included in the ancient classic The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars is called “He Wept and the Bamboo Sprouted.” It tells the story of Meng Zong (d. 271 CE), who is said to have harvested bamboo shoots that miraculously sprouted in the depths of winter as he wept in a bamboo grove when he could find no fresh shoots to feed his ailing mother. Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis), which in Meng’s native Hubei normally produces shoots in early spring, is named after him (Mō Sō is the Japanese pronunciation of Meng Zong). By contrast, the shoots of Oldham’s bamboo (Bambusa oldhamii) grow only in warm, moist conditions, and in Taiwan they are harvested mainly from May to September.

It is common knowledge that there are no Oldham’s bamboo shoots in winter. This is why when Vegetable Production and Marketing Group No. 2 from Nantou’s Jiji Township displayed fresh Oldham’s bamboo shoots for sale in winter, even govern­ment agricultural officials assumed the farmers were showing artificial replicas.

Even without the magical powers of filial piety, the Jiji Bamboo Shoot PMG overcame the limits of the growing season for Oldham’s bamboo shoots and is now able to harvest them all year round, producing about 180 metric tons of this vegetable last year. PMG head Guo Liting reveals that they are able to produce these bamboo shoots in winter as a result of intensive research by PMG members, who came up with the technique of extending the growing season with “surrogate mother shoots.”

Generally speaking, each year-old culm of Oldham’s bamboo can produce six shoots (the buds that grow from the bamboo’s underground rhizome). But when the PMG members harvest the shoots, they take only five, leaving one behind to serve as a “surrogate mother.” Next they trim off a short section from the tip of this shoot, and ­symbolically tap the head of the shoot two or three times. Trimming the shoot causes it to ­become ­lignified (woody) and triggers the budding of new shoots around the “surrogate.” The surrogate mother shoots cannot themselves grow into bamboo shoots or culms, but instead generate additional shoots, producing ­second- and third-generation buds.

A bamboo farmer making “surrogate mother shoots.”

Fresh Oldham’s bamboo shoots in winter

Guo Liting says that the “surrogate mother” technique is not that complicated, but for it to succeed a lot of factors need to come together. For example, winters in Taiwan are usually dry, but Jiji draws irrigation water from the Zhuoshui River, and in the winter the irrigation channels around the bamboo groves are kept full of water, so that the bamboo doesn’t get a chance to go dormant.

Some 70% of Oldham’s bamboo shoot production in Taiwan comes from the part of the island northward of Zhubei in Hsinchu County, thanks mainly to Northern Taiwan’s abundant rainfall. But the region is also exposed to the cold, dry northeasterly monsoon winds of autumn and winter, and bamboo shoots are very vulnerable to wind. In contrast, Jiji in Nantou County is shielded from the wind by mountains on three sides. Moreover, following the Jiji Earthquake of 1999, the local ground temperature rose by 2°C, and farmers also cover the soil with black plastic netting that shades the bamboo shoots from ultraviolet light and keeps the warmth in. “In short,” says Guo straightforwardly “we happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

In 2020 the Jiji Bamboo Shoot PMG was chosen as one of the “top ten” of Taiwan’s more than 6,000 agricultural PMGs. The main reason for this recognition is their ability to produce Oldham’s bamboo shoots in winter, an achievement that has earned effusive praise even from government agricultural experts.

The Fushan Fruit and Vegetable Transport and Marketing Cooperative, which offers guidance to the Jiji PMG, provides complete washing and grading facilities, making the bamboo shoots all the more attractive to buyers.

The Jiji PMG ships its Oldham’s bamboo shoots packed in ice in polystyrene foam cases, in the same way as premium-quality seafood.

Unity and sharing

Guo, who formerly grew bananas, says that it was “fate” that caused her to cultivate Oldham’s bamboo shoots. In 2018 she happened to meet Zhang Guozhen, a bamboo farmer from Baihe District in Tainan, who suggested to her that Jiji, where the soil is warmed by ­geothermal heat, should be well suited to growing bamboo shoots, so Guo and her husband Yang Zhichen decided to try their hand.

“Our chief doesn’t hold anything back for herself. She generously shares everything about her methods, from what kind of fertilizer she uses to the details of her cultivation techniques,” says Guo Yufa, second in command at the PMG.

The Jiji Bamboo Shoot PMG was founded in December of 2018, and started off with 18 members farming a total of ten-plus hectares of land. Subsequently it attracted farmers from Zhongliao and Zhushan to join, and all the members made money. Today the group has 33 members cultivating a total area of 40–50 hectares.

Besides using cold-chain logistics to deliver fresh bamboo shoots to consumers, Guo Liting has also adjusted the harvest season. She says: “Our PMG has a spirit of experimentation and research, and the members stick together and are willing to follow my lead.” During the main harvest season for Oldham’s bamboo shoots, from May to July, the Jiji PMG does not ship a large quantity of shoots. Instead, they wait until the peak season is over, when the reduced national supply of bamboo shoots makes them more expensive, and then they increase their shipments and get a good price for their produce.

In February and March 2023, the winter bamboo shoots produced by the Jiji PMG were being sold at auction by the Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation for NT$500–600 per kilogram, with a peak price of NT$890 per kilo. The PMG really has succeeded in “turning bamboo into gold.”

The Jiji Bamboo Shoot PMG members are eager to learn and willing to experiment, and are happy to follow the advice of group leader Guo Liting (third from left).

Oldham’s bamboo shoots are sweet and crisp with a very fine texture.

Yong’an Aquaculture PMG No. 9

Following their own path

Arriving in Kaohsiung’s rural Yong’an District on a hot summer’s day, we find aquaculture ponds, filled and drained by the rising and falling tide, laid out as far as the eye can see on reclaimed land along the coast. This is one of the main areas in Taiwan for raising grouper and fourfinger threadfin (Eleutheronema tetradactylum).

Aquaculture is both labor-intensive and technology-­intensive, and is always vulnerable to natural disasters and fish diseases. But even when the fish are reared ­successfully, fish farmers may be at the mercy of wholesalers who buy up their entire harvest at low prices.

Third-generation fish farmer Cai Longbin and his wife Cai-Su Lihua understand this very well. When Cai was small, his grandfather raised milkfish in shallow ponds in Yong’an. In the 1970s the family began raising high-value grouper, but following an incident in 2005 in which the dyestuff malachite green was detected in grouper exported to Hong Kong, the price collapsed from NT$500 per Taiwanese catty (600 grams) to NT$70 per catty. It seemed that aquaculturists could never escape misfortune.

Cai-Su Lihua, who switched over to raising fourfinger threadfin after the price of grouper collapsed, explains that the threadfin, which are vulnerable to cold but not to heat, are extremely sensitive. For example, the sound of dogs barking or of airplanes flying overhead can frighten them so much that they stop eating. She knows of fishponds where the fourfinger threadfin died of fright after people set off fireworks at Mid-Autumn Festival.

To try an alternative path, the couple applied for Traceable Agricultural Product (TAP) certification back in 2018. This made them the first fish farmers in Yong’an to join the TAP system, and opened the door to export sales.

When they first exported their product to North America, the only thing printed on the transparent vacuum packaging was a declaration of the TAP certification. They were advised by the trading company that American consumers had a positive impression of Taiwan, but there was no indication on the packaging that the fish came from Taiwan.

To the members of Yong’an Aquaculture PMG No. 9 in Kaohsiung, Cai-Su Lihua is an aquaculture pacesetter who is happy to share her experience and knowledge with them. (courtesy of Chang Chia-sheng)

Fish raised in seawater ponds don’t have that earthy taste.

Self-produced, self-marketed

Heeding the advice from the trading company, plus the fact that for many years it has been wholesalers who hold the upper hand in setting prices for fish, in 2019 the Cais decided to found Yong’an Aquaculture Production and Marketing Group No. 9. They recruited second-­generation aquaculturists and young farmers, and with the collective power of the group established their own brand, “Tfish,” enabling them to market their own ­produce.

Chang Chia-sheng, who handles marketing for the group and has been named one of Taiwan’s Top 100 Young Farmers, actively promotes their fish at food shows and organic markets and has joined an e-commerce platform. With support from the Taiwan Good Agriculture program he has developed the Tfish brand identity, and he has successively obtained various certifications including HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control points), ISO 22000, EU aquacultural producer certification, and halal certification. He aims to adopt universally accepted standards so that the group’s products can be sold worldwide. Besides the US, the brand is now being successfully sold into Australia, Singapore, and Japan.

Cai-Su Lihua encourages PMG members to adopt a strategy of diversification in their aquaculture operations by raising a variety of seafoods, including four­­finger threadfin, milkfish (Chanos chanos), giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus), hybrid giant tiger grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus × Epinephelus lanceolatus), and Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). This means that PMG members can avoid duplicating each other’s production and can spread risk. The PMG is also helpful in allocating products to distribution channels, with group members no longer having to negotiate with wholesalers individually.

Chang Chia-sheng points to fourfinger threadfin as an example. In the past wholesalers purchased the fish directly at the pondside, making bulk purchases at low unit prices. Today, however, the PMG packages its members’ fourfinger threadfin fillets, slices and whole fish in 14 portion sizes based on the needs of restaurants and households, with the whole fish ranging from 100 to 500 grams. This enables consumers to eat fresh-cooked fourfinger threadfin at all-you-can-eat restaurants and Japanese restaurants.

The Yong’an PMG currently has 15 members with aquaculture ponds totaling 45 hectares in area and annual production of 1,700 metric tons. Despite the impact of Covid-19 in Taiwan over the past two years, home delivery sales of the group’s seafood have actually increased, with total turnover last year reaching a new high of NT$250 million. The PMG has certainly found its feet.

Cai-Su Lihua (center), head of Yong'an Aquaculture PMG No. 9, hired Chang Chia-sheng (left), named one of Taiwan’s Top 100 Young Farmers, to handle marketing and develop export markets.

A Taiwanese saying goes “first threadfin, second pomfret, third red sea bream.” Fourfinger threadfin ranks first mainly because it has few bones and a fine texture. (courtesy of Chang Chia-sheng)

Fillets of orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides).
(courtesy of Chang Chia-sheng)

The Yong’an Aquaculture PMG has adopted a strategy of diversity of production. (courtesy of Chang Chia-sheng)