To search the history of past
duck breeding in Hsien-Hsi and the influence and current situation caused by
toxic egg incident, we’d like to look for a former duck farmer to get the
first-hand data. Mr. Lin Chin Hsing was a duck farmer, but now he is an owner
of well-known farm in local, and he is also the chairman of Cultural & Creative
Industry Association in Hsien-Hsi. He knew well about the history and cultural
industry of Hsien-Hsi, by means of our interview, we could understand the early
situation of duck breeding.
Q1: Please make brief introduction of early duck breeding business in Hsien-Hsi.I came to Hsien-Hsi for work
in 1978. It was thriving to breed ducks at that time, and duck farmers were
everywhere along the Hsien-Hsi coast. Ducks were classified into egg duck (long
neck and brown feather), meat duck and breed duck (white feather). The eggs
laid from the egg duck were for eating; the eggs laid from breed duck were
hatched and squab ducks would become meat ducks; meat ducks bred for hundreds
of days would be killed for eating, and we called them mule ducks. Three types
of ducks are different. There was an early film called “Beautiful Duckling,”
and the ducks in it were borrowed from Hsien-Hsi.
There was a special breeding way for breed ducks and egg ducks along the coast in Hsien-Hsi in 1950s, and it was called “Sea Feeding”. Duck farmers took advantage of tide, that is, they would chase ducks to tidal land and ducks would eat small creatures there (Hsien-Hsi seaside was a tidal land before), and they needn’t feed the ducks other fodder to save much cost. The reason for sea feeding were little population and original coastline, so duck farmers would breed 200 to 300 ducks on tidal land at one time, and other places along the coast also used this way to feed ducks. |
There was another popular breeding way for breed ducks and egg ducks, and it was called “Paddy Feeding”. The duck for laying eggs was called Tsaiya Duck in early Taiwan, and its main breeding place was in Pingtung. Duck farmers would breed ducks in paddy after breeding for 10 to 20 days. Since people reaped rice by hand before, ducks could eat rice in reaped paddy A, after all rice in paddy A was eaten up, they would move ducks to paddy B. Ducks kept eating from south to middle and north, and it would take 120 to 140 days from ducks were born. When ducks was chased to the middle, it would be the time to lay eggs. There was no cost during the process and it was called natural agriculture. The cost was little and ducks were healthy, so the ducks bought from Hsien-Hsi were about to lay eggs. This process was called “Paddy Feeding” but it has become a history. Besides, ducks would peck the mud to look for food because of their habit, but the change of environment and transportation and the pesticides pollution would make it impossible for ducks to grow up in this natural way.
Q2: What is the reason for breeding ducks in Hsien-Hsi? Is it the specific feature of the only country?
Hsien-Hsi
is close to Taiwan Strait, by means of this advantage, people could breed ducks
by sea feeding and paddy feeding. Besides, like the dialect “TaoChi” (help each
other to breed), when people thought that the production value of duck breeding
was high, it would become a business gradually. TaoChi was the main reason for
breeding ducks in early stage. There was another dialect “DaoKaChu” whose
meaning was similar to Taochi, and it meant that if you helped me, I would help
you as well, and people would help each other.
When A, B and C all bred ducks, they would help each other; for example,
duck farmers would help each other to cut mouth of ducks or pick feathers.
Since people could help each other along the coast, duck breeding formed gradually
in Hsien-Hsi
Settlement has developed everywhere in Taiwan. When you start to farm, all villages would follow you and people will help each other. The society is in mechanization nowadays, and a few people would help each other, but there are settlements along the coast. Many people bred ducks in Hsien-Hsi at that time, and it should be a settlement phenomenon not a feature. Other places also bred ducks, such as Hemei and Shenkang, and it was more popular in Fangyuen and Wangkung. Therefore, it isn’t the specific feature for only one country.
The duck breeding in Hsien-Hsi was the changes of environment and settlement, when people started to do it, others would follow, and the duck breeding business was formed.
Settlement has developed everywhere in Taiwan. When you start to farm, all villages would follow you and people will help each other. The society is in mechanization nowadays, and a few people would help each other, but there are settlements along the coast. Many people bred ducks in Hsien-Hsi at that time, and it should be a settlement phenomenon not a feature. Other places also bred ducks, such as Hemei and Shenkang, and it was more popular in Fangyuen and Wangkung. Therefore, it isn’t the specific feature for only one country.
The duck breeding in Hsien-Hsi was the changes of environment and settlement, when people started to do it, others would follow, and the duck breeding business was formed.
Q3: Are there other suitable features of Hsien-Hsi seaside to breed ducks?
Many tilapias were bred in
fish farms along Hsien-Hsi coast. There would be small fish in the fish farm
because of natural feature, but people won’t eat them. Therefore, duck farmers
would scoop it up and mix with fodder to feed ducks, and it was very nutritious.
This was the feature of costal area. However, duck breeding in Hsien-Hsi might
become a history because most of duck farmers had given up breeding for animal husbandry policy.
Q4: What makes duck breeding in Hsien-Hsi changed?
The
main reason was the dioxin incident in 2005, and another reason was that the
steel factory in Shenkang dumped waste mud in Hsien-Hsi to cause land pollution. However,
the dioxin incident was the most serious since dioxin pollution would cause
falling dust. The heavy metal pollution in mud of tidal land was more serious,
since ducks liked to peck the mud, they were polluted. Therefore, the dioxin incident
was the main reason for the downfall of duck breeding business.
Q5: How was the relationship between duck farmers? Be competitive or cooperative?
There
was no competition between duck farmers, and people would help each other. The
problems for duck breeding were the production and selling, because it depended
on purchase of wholesalers. Selling duck egg was related with the quotation for
wholesalers, only if you breed good ducks which were able to lay eggs and the
cost was low, you would make profits. Therefore, there was no competition in
local but the whole markets in Taiwan would be competitive. When more people
bred ducks, the price would become lower. As a proverb goes, “Good price for
duck egg but no birth for duck farmer, “when the ducks didn’t lay eggs, it
would be useless to sell eggs at high price, since they couldn’t make much
money. Therefore, duck farmers made money from good price and good egg production. Most animal
husbandry make profits according to their technology and management now, and
the early duck breeding business in Hsien-Hsi increased the profits by breeding
with special ways to save cost.
Q6: Why did you transform the business because of egg pollution or others?
I
have stopped breeding ducks in 1988 not because of toxic egg incident. My farm
was far from sea, the ditches weren’t built, and the waste water from duck excrement
couldn’t be discharged, so I didn’t breed any more. Theoretically, when you
breed ducks and some aquatic product at the same time, you could discharge excrement
water into fish farm; in this way, there would be no pollution problem. Nowadays,
people breed ducks in close-feed type and there is no fish farm around, so they
couldn’t dispose the excrement; therefore, it will cause waste water pollution.
However, waste water from duck breeding is organic fertilizer, and it isn’t a
serious problem. For me, I have transformed my business into leisure
agriculture; for other duck farmers, they are old and they would consider
giving duck breeding up if their children aren’t willing to take over.
Q7: Would you consider transforming the type of duck breeding?There
would be no economic benefit even if I consider transforming it. This business
would become a history unless it is profitable to make our second generation be
willing to take over. Through the government policy of “Salmon Returning”, it
might be possible to encourages the second generation to come back to take it
over. However, the background has changed, and it might be possible for duck
farmers to transform the duck breeding into tourism. Our goal is to develop
leisure duck farm, so we need larger area. The local feature should be promoted
through the public force and it is impossible to achieve only by personal
force.
To be honest, it is very difficult for Hsien-Hsi to revive the duck breeding business in the future. There are some reasons. First, duck farmers are old; second, the public dare not buy the products; third, residents move out, and no one takes this business over. |
Q8: Why did you consider transforming it to leisure agriculture at that time?One
reason is for interest and the other is for making money. Every industry has
its ups and downs. I bred ducks in 1978, bred horse and transformed it to horse
farm in 1988. The horse farm was changed to leisure agriculture in 1999, but became
White Horse House in 2010 for strict policy on drunk driving. We added
kiln-baked creative cuisine in 2013.
The White Horse Chateau was transformed into White Horse House because of strict policy on drunk driving, and we’ve applied for business license for tourists to present an expense account. The tourists could DIY here, and we often hold some activities to promote the cultural industry in Hsien-Hsi. When we face problems, we should solve them. Crisis is a turning point. |