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It was decreasing until 2008 from when it became more or less stable and sustainable.
8. Conclusion
In terms of fertilization and “pesticidation” during production, mass plastics usage for packing, clear dependence on import offer many of the possibilities for increasing sustainability in Taiwanese agriculture production. It is not enough to focus on increasing of yield and export, as proposed in plans published by the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan. The soil has a limited capacity of production and with use of fertilizers and pesticides, the soil is facing long-term degradation. Furthermore, the health risk for humans and animals emerging by annually increasing use of
chemical pesticides causing poisoning and deteriorating of (human) heath while their usage is time limited until the insects adapt to new poisons. The current solvation of using even more toxic pesticides is not sustainable.
On 15th March 2017, the government bureau for Food and Drug Administration allowed to use of two types of pesticide, formerly restricted, and 19 types of pesticides are newly allowed to use for wider range of plants (FDA a, 2017). For example, one of them is Dimethomorph which was completely forbidden before 2009, since 2009 it was allowed to use it up to 0.5ppm (0.00005%). The limit was changed to 2.5ppm (0.00025%) in 2012 and then to incredible 10ppm (0.001%) in 2017 (FDA b, 2017). Dimethomorph pesticide has a direct negative impact on reproduction system and nervous system, causing damage of fertility and causing cancer of liver and kidney. This suggests that the limit was in total increased twenty times in 8 years (2009-2017) from the originally entirely forbidden pesticide.
Next example is Fluopyram pesticide which is newly possible to use for tea
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production with a limit of 6.0ppm (0.0006%), other 19 plants initially permitted for use of Fluopyram pesticide with a limit exceeding 0.1ppm (0.00001%) are left without change (FDA b, 2017). Nevertheless, the internationally established limit for Fluopyram pesticide is 0.1ppm (0.00001%) set by the World Trade Organization and the European Union. Therefore, the allowance for tea treatment with Fluopyram pesticide exceeds international limit sixty times in Taiwan.
The only way of creating healthy and sustainable future in agriculture is to change the model used, switch to a new model that substantially reduces health risks, degradation of soil, lack of self-sufficiency, and energy inefficiency. Organic production focused on domestic demand would substantially reduce these areas. Studies into energy efficiency show that organic farming consumes less energy to obtain the same product of better quality with lower health risk while do not cause degradation of soil. This is mainly because of the replacement of chemical fertilizers with organic fertilization.
Future development, in order to be sustainable, has to pay attention to how this process is conducted. It is obvious that only a shift towards organic farming and corresponding changes in consumption patterns can contribute to a substantial reduction of resources used in the food system and to sustainable future. The way, in which it can be achieved, is improving the quality of what we eat by minimum usage of pesticides and without reducing agrarian income and employment to switch to organic farming, and to change to have more vegetarian thinking, with the big emphasize on seasonal products produced locally.
The current consumption patterns build on a myth that more consumption creates happy life which is taken as a dogma in economics should be also challenged and further research could be made about a different pattern containing shorter working
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hours and higher wages while producing high quality products. If the corporations profit is not put on the first place, then entire production system is also changed and agriculture sector become overall more sustainable aiming to bright future.
Proponents of de-growth economy11, ecological economy or athroposophy12 made very interesting findings in this field proving excellent results with using organic farming and different (non-profit) patterns of thinking. For instance, an alternative proposed by Serge Latouche is based on the strategy of re-territorialisation of production, localisation of markets, vegetarianisation of diet, and re-seasonalisation of food consumption.
11 Serge Latouche, Giorgio Kallis, Christian Kerschnerm Joan Martinez-Alier, Juan Infante Amate, Manuel González de Molina, Nadia Johanisova, Tim Crabtree, Eva Fraňnková
12 Rudolf Steiner, Sergej Prokofiev, Herbert Witzenmann, Stephan Eistenhut
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