Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che visited young aqua farmer Li Kun-huan in Anding District on April 21 and stressed that the city government is dedicated to supporting young farmers. Taiwan’s agriculture industry has long been plagued by two serious issues: an aging population in farming and farming labor migrating to cities. Since taking office, Huang has been actively promoting the city’s New Farmers Program which aims to attract young people to return and work in agriculture.
The Mayor expressed that he is glad to see groups of young people working in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry. He praised Li Kun-huan, who originally worked in the clothing and fashion industry, for his courage to “accept failure but not giving up”. Raising sturgeon in warm southern Taiwan requires skill, perseverance, and the support of other sources. Tainan City Government is proud to see Li has successfully breed and cultivated the fish, and will continue to assist him in overcoming challenges, developing marketing channels, attracting investments, and expanding production and sales volume.
Hailed as the pioneer of Chinese sturgeon cultivation in Tainan, Li Kun-huan managed to find a way to satisfy the “low water temperature, high water quality” requirements for Chinese sturgeon cultivation and can now maintain an incubation rate of over 80%. He also set up aquaponics systems to increase agriculture equipment efficiency. In the future, Li plans to expand the simple agriculture production into a multifaceted new operation model which employs diverse professions and talents to manage its brand, create new food and agriculture dishes, and develop UAV spraying technology.
Huang Wei-che remarked that he values young people who decide to work in agriculture. He welcomes feedback and suggestions from young farmers, and promises that the city government will offer assistance and support if they run into any problems concerning related technology, capital, or land acquirement. Tainan City continues to work towards becoming a young farmer-friendly city to let young farmers live and work without worries.