At a time when the public has focused on the pollution produced by refineries, petrochemical installations and other industrial facilities, agriculture, which relies on the natural resources of land and water as a means of production, has also been steadily damaging them.
Today even schoolchildren know that "a pig produces six times as much fecal matter as a person." Indeed, the 7 million hogs on the island produce twice as much fecal waste as the island's entire population. Most of the excrement is dumped directly into rivers and streams, without processing, and hog waste has become the third largest pollutant of rivers and streams in Taiwan, after industrial and household sewage.
Most downstream pollution comes from industrial and residential sources, but in sparsely populated upstream regions, not only have the water and soil been damaged by tea plantations, fruit orchards and vegetable farms, but excessive use of fertilizers has led to half of the reservoirs becoming infested with algae.
According to statistics of the Water Conservancy Bureau, excessive withdrawal of underground water has caused subsidence on 1,000 square kilometers of land in Taiwan, or one ninth of the island's lowland area. The regions suffering the most severely are located on the western coast, where aquaculture is common: one half of the surface area of Yunlin and Chiayi counties has been affected.
Likewise a threat to the environment yet so far exempt from the hailstorm of government enforcement and public criticism that has struck industry, agriculture--always considered its weak sister--has received much more sympathy and much less forceful pressure.
Three years ago, when he served as president of the New Environment Foundation, Chai Sung-lin, a professor at National Chengchi University, said that if environmental groups began to aim at agricultural pollution as a target and square off against farmers, "they'll go broke for sure." Chen Ting-nan, now a member of the Legislative Yuan, was consistently tough on industrial polluters as Ilan county chief, but he admits he didn't treat agricultural polluters the same way. Farmers are in a weaker position than firms, he felt, and their livelihood is easily affected.
Agricultural pollution has finally been called to the floor only because its severity can no longer be ignored.
"Farmers can't be allowed to pollute the environment of other people just because they're in a weak position," says Tai Chen-yao, a Legislative Yuan member from Kaohsiung county who was a farmer once himself. Agricultural pollution has been targeted for supervision by some environmental groups, and the control of pollution from livestock, aquaculture and agriculture has been included as an important task in the nation's six-year development plan.
But even as the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has had a series of regulations enacted against pollution in various industries and has been strictly enforcing them, it has found that agriculture is a particularly tricky area to handle because its production methods are unique.
"Agricultural pollution comes mostly from 'non-location-specific sources,'" says Tzeng Ssu-kung, a professor of environmental engineering at National Taiwan University, meaning it differs from that produced by factories, hospitals, restaurants and other industrial facilities, which are concentrated targets in spot locations. Environmental agencies can establish clear guidelines for them to adhere to, and the pollutants they produce can be prevented beforehand or reduced by means of technology.
But the supervision of 'non-location-specific sources' presents pollution control experts with a very great challenge indeed. M.J. Horng, an assistant engineer at the Water Resources Planning Commission in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, illustrates with the example of eutrophication in reservoirs caused by fertilizers: "When farmers use too much fertilizer, especially on steep slopes in areas with a lot of rainfall, it washes into rivers and streams and seeps into the underground water. It can't be tracked, and there's no way to tell where it will come out or in what quantity. By the time it shows up in the reservoir it's already too late to stop it."
According to the latest statistics of the United Nations, fertilizer use around the world averages about 90 kilos per hectare. But in Taiwan, because of the poor quality of the soil combined with a long-term drive to increase production, it has reached a full 400 kilos per hectare, the highest in the world.
Besides polluting water resources, one of the main elements of fertilizer--nitrogen--combines with other minerals in the soil to form ammonium nitrate, which produces carcinogens. Wang Hsi-hua, a professor of agricultural chemistry at National Taiwan University, calls that the most troublesome problem for specialists in his field of study.
Another source of pollution as irksome as fertilizer is pesticide. Farmers often rely on their own judgment and experience in applying agricultural chemicals instead of following the instructions, and the result is too much residue on fruit and vegetables.
But farmers are not industrial concerns, and pollution control enforcement, limited in by manpower and funding, does not usually concern itself with the behavior of individuals.
As a result, even though both the carrot and the stick are required for the task, the government clearly leans toward guidance more heavily than enforcement in its work on agricultural pollution.
The R.O.C. has kept pace with the advanced countries of the world in prohibiting the use of highly toxic or nonbiodegradable pesticides, and the FPA has initiated a program to recycle empty pesticide containers. In addition, researchers have been studying methods of countering pests with microorganisms and natural enemies in order to increase the options for farmers apart from pesticides.
As for fertilizers--the vitamins of crop raising--the Agricultural Experimentation Department provides in-field experimentation, soil testing and other services at its agricultural improvement stations and encourages farmers to use them to determine the correct formula and quantity of fertilizer they should use, given their individual land area and crop variety, for maximum effectiveness and minimal waste and pollution.
However, positive enticements are rarely a match for enforcement and coercion. Most farmers run such small operations they haven't felt they could spare the time and energy to go to the stations. Agricultural authorities have had to retreat a step and try to develop microorganic fertilizers that can be used in small quantities in the hope that they can later be substituted for chemical fertilizers.
The management of hog waste has been one of the government's more effective programs. The hog raising industry has been moving toward corporate operations recently, where pollution control equipment can be added just like in a factory. Big operations with more than 10,000 pigs have been installing central processing facilities one after the other.
Nonetheless, because the social costs and benefits aren't very well balanced, the hog raising industry has been listed by the Council of Agriculture as a future negative growth sector. Another similarly ailing area is aquaculture, which has produced land subsidence and soil salinization.
Polluted water and air can be improved in time, but subsided land stays that way for good. Agricultural authorities can only hope to encourage farmers to reduce the amount of underground water they remove by using seawater or recycled water instead.
Taiwan's aquaculture industry has been losing out recently to those in Southeast Asia and mainland China, which use cheap labor and mass production. And very few firms are willing or able to pay the high costs required to upgrade production methods.
"People have always thought of agriculture as a weak sister," Wang Hsi-hua says. "They've encouraged farmers to raise production and protected their interests, but they've never regulated them or asked them to bear the responsibilities of moving into the modern age." That has only exacerbated the difficulty of dealing with the problem, he says.
For instance, agriculture has never been subject to any form of registration. Judged in the light of modern-day standards, many agricultural activities are characteristic of an underground economy. Hog raisers can operate wherever they want and raise as many hogs as they like, so they all run to the sources of streams to "set up a factory."
When the EPA began enforcing regulations on pollution by hog raisers, it didn't have any information on where or how big the farm were, so "we had to rely on 'confidential tips,'" says Chien-tzu Wu, chief of its Bureau of Water Quality Protection. Nor was the illegal removal of underground water by aquaculture fisheries ever adequately managed by the Water Conservancy Bureau.
"Every firm that uses water there is registered and approved to do so," says Shih Sheng-lun, in the Aquaculture Division of the Fisheries Department, R.O.C. Council of Agriculture, describing the aquaculture industry in the United States. "And each application needs more than 50 stamps of approval!"
Quality control is another area for improvement. The government tests fruits and vegetables at wholesale markets for agricultural chemical residue to protect the health of the public, but farmers themselves know best whether or not their crops have too much, and testing the products after they have arrived at the market isn't as nearly effective as beginning at the source. Mike Y. Teng, chief of the Council of Agriculture's Agronomy Division, says that the Japanese government requires farmers to label each bundle of vegetables they produce with their name and telephone number to show that they bear responsibility.
Agricultural pollution differs indeed in many respects from that of other industries, and the methods of controlling it must be adjusted according. "But strengthening regulation is probably the only thorough way of solving the problem," Wang Hsi-hua concludes.
[Picture Caption]
Agricultural activities are spread out over a wide area. Its "non-location-specific sources" make agricultural pollution a tough challenge for environmental protection personnel.
(Right) How can geese raised by farmers on Public rivers and streams be regulated for pollution control? It's a big headache for the authorities.
Hog waste is one of the three major sources of pollution of Taiwan's rivers and streams. It was included by the Environmental Protection Administration last year in the scope of items for pollution control.
The withdrawal of underground water by families engaged in aquaculture has caused land subsidence in the west of Taiwan. The most direct victims are the families themselves.
A new life for hog dung? Shen Tung-lin, who runs a comprehensive livestock operation, carries out R&D into the practicability of methane cogeneration.
Rice straw is recycled for reuse to avoid creating pollution by burning it.
Hog waste is one of the three major sources of pollution of Taiwan's rivers and streams. It was included by the Environmental Protection Administration last year in the scope of items for pollution control.
The withdrawal of underground water by families engaged in aquaculture has caused land subsidence in the west of Taiwan. The most direct victims are the families themselves.
A new life for hog dung? Shen Tung-lin, who runs a comprehensive livestock operation, carries out R&D into the practicability of methane cogeneration.
Rice straw is recycled for reuse to avoid creating pollution by burning it.
