Miaoli farmers upgrade irrigation methods, turn to crops that can handle drought

Let’s take a look now at how farmers are responding to the intense drought. In Yuanli Township, Miaoli, farmers spoke to us about how their irrigation methods and choice of crops planted have to adapt to the lack of water. With careful choices, farmers can drastically reduce their water usage, as well as reducing the need for imports of essential crops.

A steady drip-drip-drip from a black plastic pipe. It looks like a leak, but it’s actually watering the soil.

The system is carefully designed to maximize limited water and keep the crops happy.

Liu Wei-cheh, Farmer: It drips about 1.6 liters of water an hour. I turn it on for about two to three minutes in every 15 minutes. It just needs to keep the soil damp enough.

The famous drip irrigation system comes from Israel, where it helped turn parts of the arid desert into a fertile paradise. Now young farmers in Yuanli Township, Miaoli, are turning to the technique. Over this 0.6 hectare orchard, it saves 10 tons of water a day, compared to traditional methods.

And besides updated irrigation, the drought is also leading farmers to turn to new crops, such as flint corn.

Chang Chih-chieh, Farmer: Basically, flint corn doesn’t need much water. Two days after we planted it, there was rain. Now we’re getting ready to wait for it to sprout.

Flint corn is mainly used as poultry feed. Every year Taiwan imports 5 million tons of the crop. But with drought pushing farmers to rethink their planting, it’s an obvious choice to start growing flint at home.