However, this is not a problem for Hsieh Ming-chien, an electronics factory worker-turned-farmer in Taiwan's eastern county of Hualien, who has succeeded in touting on the Internet the rice he produces and has put his name on the map as a farmer blogger.

Hsieh, 28, the youngest rice farmer in Hualien, has been working the land for the last five years, splitting his time between tending his farm and blogging on the Internet.

A son of a rice farmer, Hsieh headed to Taipei to work after graduating from high school and finishing his military service.

He did not save a dime working in the metropolis and was eventually ordered home by his father to plow their own farmland. He was 23 when he became a fulltime farmer.

Hsieh did not have a smooth start. His first year's harvest was only a sixth of the normal yield -- only about 2,000 kg of rice for each hectare of paddy he farmed.

That dismal result was a real kick in the pants, so he set out to learn all about the work from his dad and his elderly neighbors. Not until his third year did he finally bring in a successful harvest.

He then decided to take his business a step further by innovating, adding a modern touch to the age-old occupation by selling his rice online.

The idea came from online friends, who at first reacted with disbelief when he told them he was a farmer, Hsieh said.

To prove his credentials, Hsieh started a blog on his farming experiences, chronicling the whole process of rice farming from propagating rice seedlings and planting them out, to fertilizing and harvesting.

Believing that building a "corporate image" is important in terms of marketing, Hsieh, who was an art design major when he was at vocational high school, designed the cartoon character "Chien Chien" and branded his rice products "Chien Chien's Good Rice."

A born humorist, Hsieh has sprinkled his online diary with amusing or self-deprecating parodies and caricatures of the "Kuso style."

In "Kuso" -- which literally means "sh!t" in Japanese -- Hsieh makes fun of himself, reflects local farmers' ideals and plights, and describes the outrageous matters facing him and his fellow Hualien farmers in his online diary.

Also via his Web site, he keeps people informed about his products, which range from "Champion Rice" Taigeng No. 2 -- a chewy and crystal-looking grain best suited to frying, "Pearl Rice" Taigeng No. 16 -- chewy but soft, pearl-like rice best for sushi, to "Aromatic Rice" Taigeng No. 4 -- the most popular variety among Taiwanese consumers in recent years.

Initially attracted by his novel sales method and intrigued by his diary, then later finding out that "Chien Chien's Good Rice" is actually really tasty and of good quality, online buyers flocked to him in droves. "Chien Chien" and his rice have developed something of a fan following, earning Hsieh fame and a reasonable living.

His success is in part owing to the fact that the land he works sits in the Huadong Rift Valley, with the Central Mountain Range on the western side and the East Coast Range on the east, a natural corridor long famed for its fertility and good rice.

As far back as Taiwan's occupation by the Japanese between the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, rice produced in the valley was shipped to Japan as tribute to the Japanese emperor.

However, this heyday has been long gone for Hsieh and his fellow farmers in the valley, which became especially obvious earlier this year when a string of cold spells hit Taiwan after the year's first crop had been planted out.

By the time the crops were about to mature in late May, they found to their dismay that the crop had failed to set grain and they lost the entire crop.

The unprecedented disaster -- the worst calamity that local rice farmers said they had ever witnessed or heard of in a century --caused all two hectares of Hsieh's Taigeng No. 4 crop to disappear down the drain and left 60 percent of another hectare damaged. Fortunately, he said, crops of the other two rice varieties on his other nine hectares were only slightly affected.

Hsieh said the "empty hull" problem was much more detrimental than the onslaught of a typhoon, flooding or any pest scourge.

"My heart went out to my fellow farmers, most of whom are in their 50s and 60s,most of whom are their households' only breadwinners and most of whom had given over the majority of their paddy to Taigeng No. 4," he said.

Undaunted, Hsieh said he is planning to increase his farming for the second harvest this year, adding eight hectares to make a total of 20 hectares under the plough, in order to meet demand.

Young as he is, Hsieh has already developed the characteristics of a philanthropic entrepreneur.

He frequents an institution for people suffering from mental problems not far from his village, where his wife works as a nurse.

From that institution, he has hired four patients who were able to take up manual labor jobs at his seedling development quarters, giving them a sense of worth while allowing Hsieh to save on cost.

"Farming is stereotyped as backbreaking and profitless, but I'm determined to be a cheerful farmer," Hsieh said.

"To me, the best compliment is people saying to me that 'your rice brings happiness,'" Hsieh added.