Rice plant in Tainan promoting ‘duck farming’ technique

Huang said the method of cultivation allows rice fields to be playgrounds for ducks, which eat insects and apple snails that harm rice crops and whose excrement can be used as organic fertilizer.

But since Fangjung Rice Plant launched the program to use ducks in rice farming in 2006, only six farmers have participated in it, with the total farmland using this method reaching only three hectares, Huang said.

Hoping that more farmers and consumers will support this unique organic farming technique, Huang said she is trying to get produce generated under the program certified as organic produce. She said she is confident this can be achieved within one year.

Huang explained that three years is the minimum time it takes for a farm’s produce to pass organic examinations.

Contract farmers have to abide by certain regulations. They have to grow the strain selected by the rice production plant and cannot use any pesticides or chemical fertilizers, Huang said.

Persuading farmers to switch from the pursuit of production volume to quality is the most difficult part of promoting the farming technique, even though farmers know that it is a good technique passed down by their ancestors, Huang said.

She is the fourth generation owner of the plant that was founded in 1926.

The six contract farmers currently using this method raise ducks beside their rice farms. Three farmers who cultivate a 1.68 hectare plot of land together have had to raise about 500 ducks to help them with their organic efforts, Huang said.

“We experimented with creatures like frogs and chicken in carrying out the mission, but found that ducks are the most effective,” Huang said.

All produce grown on farmland using this special technique have passed pesticide tests, she emphasized.

Huang noted that while ducks eat rice too when there are not many bugs around, they are still beneficial to farmland. She added that having ducks in rice fields is also a good way to attract tourists to the area.

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