Cooperation in subtropical sustainable greenhouse Taiwan (BO-27.03-001-002, BO-10-001-220)

Taiwan is one of the most innovative countries in the world and the Taiwanese government set out a strategy to  modernize the horticulture sector in order to strengthen its position on the domestic and international markets and to increase its contribution to the national economy.

Vegetable production in Taiwan is  located in subtropical climate with high temperatures, high humidity and abundant rainfall, the annual precipitation is around 2500 mm. The rainfall, however is  unevenly distributed and often causes in combination with typhoons in summer and autumn time serious damages and losses in agricultural production. .  The total agricultural loss caused by  natural disasters  was around 1,1 billion euro in the period 2006- 2010.

Most of the damages can be prevented by applying protected cultivation systems, which is the reason that  over the last twenty years protected cultivation has been widely accepted by growers and become one of the main production methods in vegetable production. However, protected vegetable production in Taiwan  is still low tech and small sized. Challenges are the product quality and pest and disease management. Supply chain management should be improved. Modern greenhouse systems are not yet introduced  in Taiwanese vegetable production. Growers tend to choose for cheap solutions because of lack of  capital. Knowledge about integral greenhouse system design is lacking in greenhouse industry as well as at research level. Knowledge about modern crop management is lacking at growers level and integrated supply chains are missing.

The Taiwanese government is encouraging the development of high quality vegetable production in a sustainable and economic feasible way. They aim at  high productive, year-round vegetable production, supplying high quality and healthy produce  for the local high-end market and the export market as well. Integrated value chains for vegetables need to be developed in order to connect consumers and producers in an efficient way..
In this project Dutch  knowledge and  industry partners   help the Taiwanese government in achieving these goals by introducing innovative solutions for vegetable greenhouse production and integrated supply chains that are suitable in the specific Taiwanese circumstances.  . Using their knowledge and experience on integral greenhouse system design and value chain development, the Dutch consortium will help Taiwanese growers and investors to set up modern vegetable production and chains.

 

The major goal of the project is to promote sustainable greenhouse horticulture in Taiwan following a Public-Private Partnership approach, involving business, research and government from the Netherlands and Taiwan. The project focuses on the introduction of  high-tech greenhouse systems, necessary for  the production of high quality vegetables  in a sustainable way with low use of resources. The project  therefore, aims at:

• Developing sustainable - energy-efficient, water-efficient, low emissions and economically viable – greenhouse vegetable production systems tailored to  Taiwanese conditions;
• Realising a  demonstration centre for vegetable production in Taiwan, which will provide opportunities for Dutch industry to promote their solutions for sustainable vegetable production in Taiwan;
• Developing greenhouse designing models suitable for subtropical areas;
• Introducing integrated value chain approaches for vegetable products In Taiwan.