Can I harvest red beans by killing grass? The Prevention and Inspection Bureau did not let go, and the director-general of the Meinung Peasant Association called on "try to be useless!"

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The controversy over whether or not the herbicide is open to harvest in ormosia has been pending since early June. The Council of Agriculture held a series of symposiums from October 16 to Kaohsiung and Pingtung, the first of which was held in Meinung, Kaohsiung, the second largest producer of red beans. The Bureau stressed that the Council of Agriculture had not announced the use method and scope of "Gushacao" and went to the countryside to collect more farmers 'opinions.

Some farmers said that since the government has increased subsidies for not using defoliants, it has also publicized the effectiveness and safety of flumizole, which makes people confused. Chung Ching-hui, director-general of the Meinung District Farmers Association, called on farmers to give priority to sodium chlorate or natural defoliation, and only consider killing weeds as a last resort. He said in Hakka,"Please, don't use it as much as possible!"

Questioned that the opening of the grass will impact the red bean industry, the Agricultural Committee will hold a forum to issue questionnaires.

In order to unify drying time for machine harvesting, farmers used to use herbicide "paraquat" as red bean defoliant. However, since February 1,2020, after the complete ban of "Paraquat" by the Council of Agriculture, soybean farmers are currently mainly spraying sodium chlorate, nonanoic acid or natural defoliation.

To provide farmers with more options, the COA requested the Ministry of Health and Welfare to add a new herbicide,"Guzacao", for use in drying ormosia plants, with a tolerance of 2ppm. This move caused some farmers to question, they worry that although paraquat exits, but once the release of solid weed, herbicides will once again enter the ormosia industry and cause impact on domestic ormosia.

In order to gather farmers 'opinions on whether to use clover and promote the four subsidy programs for red bean harvesting, the Council of Agriculture, which includes Kaohsiung Agricultural Reform Field, Inspection Bureau, Drug Administration and Agricultural Food Administration, held two seminars in Kaohsiung City Meinung District Farmers Association and District Office on October 16 to communicate with farmers face to face. More than 160 farmers attended the two meetings.

Ormosia farmer Zhu Zhengfu (right) reflects to Zou Huijuan (left), deputy director of the Bureau of Prevention and Inspection, that he hopes the government will not open up the pesticide and should work harder to reduce the pesticide by half. (Photo/Li Huiyi)

At the symposium, the Bureau of Disease Control and Inspection issued questionnaires to collect farmers 'opinions comprehensively on such topics as "plant drying methods used in the past,""whether to agree to the opening of solid weed control,""priority of defoliation methods,""whether to know the government's pesticide residue inspection," and "whether to cooperate with safe drug use."

The bureau stressed that there is no announcement of the use method and scope of "Gusha grass" as a dried ormosia plant. Before deciding whether to open "Gusha grass", a series of symposiums will be held in major ormosia producing areas such as Meinong, Daliao and Pingtung.

The Agriculture and Food Administration has invested heavily in raising the subsidy to 10,000 yuan per hectare for those who do not use defoliants.

In order to encourage friendly farming, the COA promotes four subsidy programs. First, those who pass the verification of production and marketing records will receive a reward of 15,000 yuan per hectare per year, and those who fail to reach 1 hectare will be issued according to the proportion; second, those who apply for sodium chlorate will receive a subsidy of 6500 yuan per hectare from the government; third, farmers who apply to the Drug Poison Institute will receive a subsidy of 6500 yuan per hectare.