Prospects: Sustainable production
Rice terrace conservation has been going on for over 20 years in Japan. The Sa-to-yama Initiative, passed by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in 2010, advocates the achievement of productive land stressing a harmonious coexistence of man and nature through sustaining biodiversity. "Sato-yama" is Japanese for "mountains bordering villages."
"The restoration of Gong-liao rice terraces is a practical attempt at Sa-to-yama Initiative principles," says Fang. Today Gong-liao residents are once again using their knowledge to farm the mountainsides in an interlocking system of forests, rice terraces, streams, residences and irrigation systems created over the course of a century, in a unique setting that encompasses sustainable farming culture, landscape aesthetic and environmental consciousness.
The environmental value of Gong-liao's rice terraces, beyond just their value in agricultural production, is well worth a second look.
On the topic of water resource conservation, Fang says, "Clear water filtered through terraced fields and forests flows down the -Shuangxi River into the Gong-liao water treatment plant, with 11,000 cubic meters a day supplying the Gong-liao and -Shuangxi areas, and 6,000 cubic meters supplying Rui-fang and the coastal villages. Kee-lung City depends on 65,000 cubic meters a day from here, second only to its reliance on the Xin-shan Reservoir."
NTPU professors Hung Hung-chih and Lee Chen-jai carried out a survey of potential beneficiaries of New Taipei City's rice terrace environment. They first inquired into how much the public was willing to pay for restoration, and then ran the 2010 figures on the ecological and cultural value of the rice terrace wetlands, finding that it could bring NT$470 million in economic benefit for New Taipei City.
However, rice terrace cultivation and harvest requires manpower as well as a channel for rice sales.
During the mid-August harvest season, the EEFT recruited students from universities as well as from Gong-liao and -Daxi Elementary Schools, forming a group in which students pitched in to help with the harvest, thus solving farmers' most troublesome manpower problems.
Because the rice yield from terraced fields is only half that of flatland rice paddies, only 1400 kilograms of unhusked rice were harvested this year, after deducting rice for the farmers' own use. Fortunately, the venerable Hai-shan Cake Shop nearby identifies with the restoration project and is willing to purchase terrace field rice at double the cost, to make more than 3,000 boxes of puffed rice snacks for sale.
The support of the old cake shop gives Gong-liao farmers greater confidence in the rice they produce. Says Lin Wen-cui, "Farmers once thought terraced field rice wouldn't sell and they had no confidence. But when they saw the puffed rice gift boxes that Hai-shan Cake Shop brought for them, they were overjoyed."
Illuminated by an autumn sun, once-moribund rice terraces have gradually found hope for rebirth thanks to the participation of farmers guarding the land. We hope that more people will take part, expanding the areas involved, so that Taiwan's precious and unique paddy wetlands and rich ecology may continue preserving the rural way of life.
Chinese tree frog (Hyla chinensis).
With outward migration from Gangkou Village in Fengbin Township, Hualien County, the area's terraced fields fell into disuse. Today they are gradually being renovated, and once an irrigation channel is completed, they can be planted again.
A farmer catches bugs in a field with a handmade bamboo bug catcher.
Terrace-grown rice is steamed and dried, after which it can be made into puffed rice.
Terrace wetland environments are home to many plants that are useful or decorative.