臺灣農業持續發展: LCA - 政大學術集成

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(1)i. 國立政治大學應用經濟與社會發展英語碩士學位學程 International Master’s Program of Applied Economics and Social Development College of Social Sciences National Chengchi University. 治政碩士論文大. 立 Master’s Thesis ‧. ‧ 國. 學 y. Nat. er. io. sit. 臺灣農業持續發展: LCA. n. Sustainability ofa lAgricultural Production i v in Taiwan: LCA. Ch. n U engchi. Student: Denisa Petrilaková Advisor: Chung-Min Tsai. 中華民國 106 年 05 月 Month 05 Year 2017.

(2) ii. 國立政治大學應用經濟與社會發展英語碩士學位學程 International Master’s Program of Applied Economics and Social Development College of Social Sciences National Chengchi University. 治政碩士論文大. 立 Master’s Thesis ‧. ‧ 國. 學 y. Nat. er. io. sit. 臺灣農業持續發展: LCA. n. Sustainability ofa lAgricultural Production i v in Taiwan: LCA. Ch. n U engchi. Student: Denisa Petrilaková Advisor: Chung-Min Tsai. 中華民國 106 年 05 月 Month 05 Year 2017.

(3) iii. 臺灣農業持續發展: LCA Sustainability of Agricultural Production in Taiwan: LCA. 研究生：裴麗莎 Student: Denisa Petrilaková 指導教授：蔡中民 Advisor: Chung-Min Tsai. 國立政治大學治政大碩士論文. 學. ‧ 國. 立應用經濟與社會發展英語碩士學位學程 ‧ sit. y. Nat. A Thesis. er. io. n. Submitted to aInternational Master’s Program of Applied iv l. n U engchi Economics and Social Development. Ch. National Chengchi University I. 中華民國 106 年 05 月 Month 05 Year 2017.

(4) vi. Acknowledgment I would like to thank to my advisor, professor Chung-Min Tsai, without whose invaluable guidance, support, and encouragement this thesis would never be completed. I consider myself to be very lucky to have benefited from his advice.. I really appreciative the mental support from my husband Hsin-Hao Yang during whole writing process. And I am very thankful to my classmate Patrick Dave Bugarin for numerous academic remarks and the discussion which resulted in choosing this topic for my thesis.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. I am also grateful to professor Yu-Hsuan Su and professor Chelsea C. Chou for being part of my thesis committee and for all the advice.. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(5) vii. Abstract Sustainability of society became a globally discussed issue as a response to climate change, especially, the sustainability of agricultural production as it remains as a fundamental pillar of the society for fulfilling basic needs. It is time to move forward real sustainability through measuring the whole process between production and consumption embracing transportation, packaging, processing, distribution, and preservation among others. For this purpose, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used in this research as an appropriate tool for the systematic evaluation of the whole cycle of. 政治大. production. This paper examines agricultural production in Taiwan in 2015 focusing. 立. on sustainability of food production in three dimensions: environmental, economic,. ‧ 國. 學. and social aspects, as well as its impacts and identifying the relative importance of each part in the cycle. Therefore, with drawing the whole picture of Taiwanese. ‧. agricultural production system using LCA, it helps to understand circumstances. y. Nat. sit. behind the whole agriculture sector. The part concerning environmental dimension. n. al. er. io. talks about energy consumption and efficiency of its usage; as well as, contamination. i n U. v. of soil and water. Economic dimension consists of self-sufficiency analysis and price. Ch. engchi. analysis of some components in the life cycle of production. Finally, the social dimension reveals certain problems in food safety, particularly, health risks of exposure to pesticides. And finally, a summary of results and practical implication of this research are presented. This research highlights many issues which could be further investigated.. KEY WORDS: life cycle assessment, Taiwan, agriculture, energy, consumption, contamination.

(6) viii. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract................................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES, AND PICTURES................................................................ x Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 1.1.1. Early development ............................................................................................. 4. 1.1.2. Limitations .......................................................................................................... 5. 1.1.3. Relation with Agriculture .................................................................................. 6. 1.2 1.2.1. Taiwanese agriculture ................................................................................................... 14 2.1. Development .......................................................................................................... 17. 2.2. Efforts towards sustainability ............................................................................. 20. ‧. Fertilizers ........................................................................................................................ 21. y. Nat. 3.2. Efficiency and Sustainability Analysis ................................................................ 23. sit. Definition and introduction ................................................................................. 21. io. 3.1. n. al. er. 3.. 政治大 Calculating立 the Energy Consumption ............................................................ 11. Methodology............................................................................................................ 8. 學. 2.. LCA.......................................................................................................................... 3. ‧ 國. 1.. 4.. 5.. 6.. i n U. v. Pesticides ......................................................................................................................... 34. Ch. engchi. 4.1. Definition and introduction ................................................................................. 34. 4.2. Efficiency and Impact on Human Health Analysis ........................................... 35. Organic agriculture ....................................................................................................... 44 5.1. Definition and Introduction ................................................................................. 44. 5.2. Efficiency and Sustainability ............................................................................... 45. Energy ............................................................................................................................. 48 6.1. Energy consumption analysis .............................................................................. 48. 6.1.1. Production......................................................................................................... 50. 6.1.2. Transportation.................................................................................................. 52. 6.1.3. Processing and packing.................................................................................... 55.

(7) ix. 6.1.4. Results ............................................................................................................................. 60 7.1 7.1.1. Energy ............................................................................................................... 60. 7.1.2. Contamination of Soil and Water ................................................................... 63. 7.2. Prices ................................................................................................................. 64. 7.2.2. Self-sufficiency .................................................................................................. 65 Social Dimension................................................................................................... 66. 治政 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 68 大立 References ....................................................................................................................... 71 Food Security .................................................................................................... 66. 學 ‧. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. 7.3.1. 9.. Economic Dimension ............................................................................................ 64. 7.2.1. 7.3. 8.. Environmental Dimension ................................................................................... 60. ‧ 國. 7.. Retail and Households ..................................................................................... 56. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(8) x. LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES, AND PICTURES FIGURES Figure 1: Overview of Taiwanese agriculture production system’s life cycle……..9 Figure 2: Types of land in Taiwan………………………………………………...14 Figure 3: Variation of agriculture and food production value…………………….15 Figure 4: Agriculture employment………………………………………………..18 Figure 5: Fertilizer use by developing regions and type (nitrogen, phosphates, potassium in kg/ha) between 1961-1999……………………………….24 Figure 6: Consumption of fertilizers by world regions from 1961 to 2002……….24 Figure 7: Chemical fertilizers in Taiwan from 1997 to 2015……………………...26. 政治大 Figure 9: Average price of fertilizers in Taiwan between 1994 and 2015…………31 立 Figure 8: Chemical fertilizers usage in Taiwan 2015……………………………...27. Figure 10: Pesticides by quantity in Taiwan 2015………………………………....41. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 11: Average price of pesticides in Taiwan between 1994 and 2015………..44 Figure 12: Cultivated area in Taiwan………………………………………………47. ‧. Figure 13: Area with applying chemicals………….……………………….……...47. y. Nat. Figure 14: Area without applying chemical………………………………………..47. sit. Figure 15: Energy supply in Taiwan 2015…………………………………………48. al. er. io. Figure 16: Energy consumption in Taiwan 2015, energy use by sector…………...48. v i n C hin agriculture by subsector Figure 18: Energy consumption in 2015……………...49 engchi U n. Figure 17: Energy consumption in agriculture in 2015……………………………49. Figure 19: Agriculture life cycle’s energy input and output in 2015…………........59. TABLES Table 1: Three major fertilizer nutrients production and consumption in 2015…..29 Table 2: World average of energy requirement for production, packaging, transportation, and application of inorganic fertilizers…………………..30 Table 3: Total energy requirement for production, packaging, transportation, and application of inorganic fertilizers in Taiwan 2015……………………...31 Table 4: Pesticides’ total production and consumption in Taiwan 2015…………..42.

(9) xi. Table 5: World average of energy requirements for produce, package, transport, and apply pesticides……………………………………………………...42 Table 6: Total energy requirements for produce, package, transport, and apply pesticides in Taiwan……………………………………………………...43 Table 7: Consumption of energy in production life cycle…………………………51 Table 8: Top 25 agriculture export and import countries in 2015, based on value..53 Table 9: Main agriculture export and import by sea………………………………54 Table 10: Transportation life cycle of agriculture sector………………………….55 Table 11: Consumption of energy in processing and packing life cycles…………56 Table 12: Consumption of energy in cooking to the type of food………………...57 Table 13: Retail and households energy consumption life cycle………………….57. 政治大. Table 14: Total consumption of energy in agricultural production life-cycle……..58. 立. PICTURES. ‧ 國. 學. Picture 1: Land in Taiwan…………………………………………………………14 Picture 2A-2D: Fertilizer 1………………………………………………………..28. ‧. Picture 2E: Fertilizer 1 detail on composition………………………………...…..28 Picture 3A-B: Fertilizer 2……………………………….………………………...28. Nat. sit. y. Picture 3C: Fertilizer 2 detail on composition…………………………………….28. er. io. Picture 4: The pesticide cycle……………………………………………………..34 Picture 5: Working with pesticides………………………………………………..36. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Picture 6A: Proper protection……………………………………………………..39. engchi. Picture 6B: Proper protection……………………………………………………..39 Picture 7A: Applying pesticide with a dusk mask in Taiwan……………………..39 Picture 7B: Applying pesticide without any protection in Taiwan………………..39.

(10) 1. The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.” Ghandi. 1. Introduction Agriculture and food production are fundamental necessities for our society, national security and safety. Food production has to challenge environmental sustainability, producer livelihoods, regional economies, food security and equity. One billion people around the world are affected by their inadequate physical and economic access to safe and sufficient food they need (Friel, 2010). Globalization increased. 政治大. interdependence on food import and extended use of inorganic input which has not. 立. been fully evaluated in long-term impact on human health and degradation of soil. ‧ 國. 學. quality. Due to soil deterioration of agriculture land caused by harmful chemicals, areas of arable land may shift or be significantly reduced (McMichael, 2013).. ‧ sit. y. Nat. Thus, global supply lines may become vulnerable towards environmental issues. al. er. io. resulting in insufficient food in some areas relying only on imported food (Edwards et. v. n. al., 2011). Shrinking of fossil fuel reserves and government interference by. Ch. engchi. i n U. implementing environmental policy to control carbon emissions are likely to make long distance transportation and mechanized production more expensive (Graham and Smart, 2011), creating obstacles in smooth global food distribution. Therefore, to face threat on environmental changes, there is emerging necessity to reevaluate food production process and measure its sustainability and efficiency.. In the agriculture sector, Taiwan has adapted significant best practices from Japan where there is modern agriculture with the newest technologies. Overall, from the modernization and mechanization which have been quite developed, the trend is becoming dualistic, one flow aims to more mechanized production and second flow is.

(11) 2. slowly turning towards organic agriculture. This research aims to measure current sustainability of the Taiwanese agriculture sector and its impacts in environmental, economic, and social dimensions. Consequently, this research tries to address what are the strongest and weakest point of Taiwanese agriculture; what aspects of agriculture sector should be changed.. In this introductory part Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is described. Particularly, its definition, process of forming this method over time, limitations of usage, connection to research focusing on agriculture, and its opportunities compared to other methods.. 政治大. The next section describes the goals and scope, as well as the methodology of this. 立. study with more detailed description of calculating energy consumption. In the. ‧ 國. 學. succeeding part, this research tries to summarize notions about Taiwanese agriculture, its development and recorded efforts toward sustainability. The next section talks. ‧. about organic and inorganic fertilizers, their properties, production, consumption,. y. Nat. sit. pricing, and energy consumption. There is also a space invested into certain details. n. al. er. io. about fertilizers which are not known to the wide public, particularly, about nitrogen,. i n U. v. phosphorous, and potassium. It also talks about the secondary outcome of their. Ch. engchi. production, overuse, and their impact on the environment. And finally, there is focus on fertilizers in Taiwan.. In the following part, pesticides are, the same as in previous part, defined, and some additional information are given about health risks of chemicals used in pesticides and also some shocking results of studies conducted concerning the latter and their impact on human health. Then it discusses the position of the Taiwanese government towards the use of pesticides. The fifth part focuses on organic agriculture, its development and how it began in Taiwan. The energy consumption analysis is the topic of sixth.

(12) 3. part. The results of analyzed data are presented in seventh part, which is divided according to three dimensions being, environmental, economic, and social. Afterwards what follows would be conclusion. This research concludes with the summary of findings that would allow to.. 1.1. LCA. Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an evolving quantitative tool consisting of compiling data about energy and material input as well as environmental output, evaluating. 政治大 to provide enough information 立 for decision makers. This holistic assessment provides potential impacts of identified inputs and outputs, and finally interpreting the results. ‧ 國. 學. an environmental profile of the product system. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines LCA as “the compilation and evaluation of the inputs. ‧. and outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system during a. sit. y. Nat. product’s lifetime” (ISO, 2006). LCA has potential to be applied to evaluate various. al. er. io. areas including agricultural production system and examine various areas of impact.. n. v i n This method is often used toC compare or critique products h e n g c h i U and to help narrow outlook. on environmental concerns. The agricultural LCA’s characteristics defines alternative decision for production systems by analyzing environmental impacts of environmental measures such as fertilizer application methods and organic agricultural practices. Thus, LCA is contributing to improving the quality extension services, improving the profitability of farms by green marketing, and, the most importantly, supporting the regional transition to sustainable agriculture systems (Hayashi et al., 2005, p. 107). With the increase of public attention to the areas of protection, the number of application of LCA to agricultural production systems and of comparative risk assessment (CRA) to many agricultural and food products also.

(13) 4. increased.. Some scholars started to split LCA into subcategories as Social Life-Cycle Assessment (SLCA) focused on impact in terms of society, Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment (ELCA) concerning environmental characteristics, or Life-Cycle Costing (LCC) researching economic attributes. However, in this paper, the LCA is used in its holistic way to create a whole picture about the agricultural system in Taiwan.. 1.1.1 Early development. 政治大 In 1970s, research of measuring the input energy into agriculture in the United 立. Kingdom has revealed that new methods used in agriculture are less effective because. ‧ 國. 學. of dependency on fossil fuels, agrochemicals, and electricity (Leach, 1976). The first. ‧. conference in Europe on LCA on Agriculture was in Belgium, 1996 called,. y. Nat. “Application of LCA in Agricultural, Food and non-food Agro-Industry and Forestry.”. er. io. sit. Using LCA method to national agriculture was introduced by Heller and Keoleian (2002, 2003) inspired by the workshop organized by the Center for Sustainable. al. n. v i n CApproach System entitled “A Life Cycle Agriculture Indicators” held in h e n gtocSustainable hi U 1999. Measuring food production on national level expanded from US to Europe where it is used as an indication for complex comparison among countries in the European Union.. Early LCA was used mainly to serve “green” oriented goals and it resulted in harming LCA’s reputation (Finkbeiner, 2014). Later LCA became known as “the best tool currently available” (European Commission, 2014) to assess products’ environmental impacts. In recent times, there are requests for LCA community to adapt tool to new uses, for instance, creation of indicators enabling non-experts to assess products.

(14) 5. (Freidberg, 2015, p. 2). It is now also well recognized that sustainability assessment needs to consider three interconnected main pillars: environment, economy, and society (Giddings et al., 2002).. 1.1.2 Limitations Originally, LCA was not considered as a specific tool for assessment. Nevertheless, for purposes of measuring agricultural production, some things have to be considered. Some institutes in Europe, such as those in France, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden,. 政治大 and acidification caused 立by N (nitrogen) and P (phosphorus) fertilizers (including. “are trying to regionalize emission and characterization factors for eutrophication. ‧ 國. 學. manure) application (Hayashi et al., 2005, p. 106)” to develop missing indicators. In general, LCA is limited because it simply may not be able to explain all. ‧. environmental impacts. An example would be the indicators for soil quality and. sit. y. Nat. biodiversity, which are currently investigated by Agroscope FAL Reckenholz.. al. er. io. Another example would be the indicators related to pesticides. Although EDIP and. v. n. USES-LCA are applied and modified in applications, “there are still many problems. Ch. engchi. i n U. to be resolved (Hayashi et al., 2005, p. 106).” Which means, there are still some problems in precise calculations. For this reason, this paper will in some cases not calculate assessment with numbers, as with the missing precise indicators and data, the results would be more than inaccurate. Therefore, in the case of fertilizers and pesticides assessment, the focus is kept on the overall qualitative impact.. Methodological values are “the source of the rules determining what constitutes acceptable scientific practice (Longino, 1990).” Methodology in LCA has been mainly codified as principles in ISO 14040/44 which are constituted international standards of LCA. The uncodified part can be described as social and cultural.

(15) 6. environment. Also, it can be influenced by values as in choosing the research question or data. “Decisions within a LCA are preferably based on natural science” (ISO a, 2006) but its value choices, such as those used in weighting, are “not scientifically based (ISO b, 2006).”. In general, LCA can be used as “a tool that can model ‘everything mankind does’ and assess the impacts on ‘everything we find important’ (Goedkoop, 2014).” Therefore, the scope of LCA usage can be extremely wide and can be summarized as “ISO 14040 frames LCA’s expected scope only somewhat more modestly as the entire life. 政治大. cycle of a product and… all attributes or aspects of natural environment, human. 立. health and resources (Freidberg, 2015, p. 2).” In case that a client is a part of industry,. ‧ 國. 學. there is expectation on the practitioners of LCA that the study has to be scientific, independent, and credible and it should have marketable or profitable results if. ‧. possible. The result of the assessment could potentially provide such expected. y. Nat. n. al. C. h eAgriculture 1.1.3 Relation with ngchi. er. io. specific pressure on the result.. sit. outcome, but can never promise it. Since this research is non-profit, there is no. i n U. v. With the goal of reducing risks in agriculture, a new production system was established based on the codes of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) as application of standards and certification of procedures. The GAP approach focuses on the front side of the system boundary while LCA can be used for integrating environmental and food safety issues. Comparing systems among agricultural production with or without the codes of GAPs is useful for comparing other sets of standards, such as the organic farming rules or cross compliance criteria. GAPs defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) refers to food production and security, food safety and quality,.

(16) 7. and the environmental sustainability of agriculture (FAO, 2013). One of the certification standards is for example, GLOBAL G.A.P. is concerned with safe food that is produced for worker’s health, safety and welfare, environmental and animal welfare issues (GLOBALG.A.P., 2016).. In Europe, examples of definitions of GAPs are series of the Code of Good Agricultural Practice for the Protection of Water, Air, and Soil by MAFF UK. In the United Kingdom and in this part of the world in general, the majority of GAPs is related to environmental issues. In the European Union, the term regarded as an. 政治大. equivalent with GAPs is Good Farming Practices (GFPs) required under EU. 立. Commission Allowance Scheme (LFACA) and Agri-environment schemes (European. ‧ 國. 學. Commission, 2016). Both GAPs and GFPs are used in documents of OECD. On the other hand, in the U.S., GAPS are only related to food safety issues and the main. ‧. focus is reduction of the microbial risks to fruits and vegetables. This approach is also. y. Nat. sit. applicable in Japan. In the case of Switzerland, the code also includes topics as. n. al. er. io. mycotoxins, acrylamide, and GMOs (genetically modified organisms).. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Nowadays, the discussions on GAPs are focused more on minimum ecological requirements corresponding to a kind of integrated production system confirming that it is necessary to integrate environmental issues and food safety issues. LCA method makes this integration possible. One of the most important themes in the LCA studies of agricultural production systems is the comparison between organic and conventional farming, the most of the other researches concern energy questions (Hayashi et al., 2005, p. 100-101).. The result of LCA is useful in decision making process about alternatives in agricultural production system, including organic production systems, integrated.

(17) 8. production systems, or conventional production systems. These production systems are results of long-term research under consideration of overall principles, for instance, integrated pest management refuses preventive treatments without 99% evidence of damage; however, organic farming prohibits the use of artificial chemical inputs (Hayashi et al., 2005, p. 98-99).. In Taiwan, there is a tendency to apply LCA methodology to certain agricultural products, such as rice (潘瀅如, 2008) or mango (Nicki, 2016); however, to understand circumstances behind single products is necessary to draw the whole. 政治大. picture of agricultural production system by LCA which is the aim of this paper. In. 立. last decades, attention to agriculture sector was significantly decreasing in Taiwan and. ‧ 國. 學. instead society was increasingly focusing on industrial and service sector. Today, there are not many people doing research about Taiwanese; our society is not conscious. ‧. about importance of agricultural production. Therefore, there was not found any. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. 1.2 Methodology. sit. available book concerning Taiwanese sector in English language.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is emulated in this research which is fully standardized as an official tool used to evaluate the environmental burdens of producing particular products or activities by assessing environmental impacts with all stages of production from raw material extraction to material processing and consuming (ISO, 1997). In the case of agriculture, it deals with the whole process from initial input (seeds, water, fertilizers, pesticides, machines) to the final stage of selling to customers (processing, transportation, packaging, distribution, final consumption). This whole process is known as from the “cradle to the grave”. The overview of stages in Taiwan agriculture sector are shown in Figure 1, “Overview of Taiwanese.

(18) 9. agriculture production system’s life cycle” (next page). These stages are used to assess the energy efficiency as well as the overall sustainability of the system. In the case of other assessing values except energy, there would be no calculation of the whole process because of missing data. Instead of it, the main factors affecting sustainability are pointed out and discussed qualitatively.. Figure 1: Overview of Taiwanese agriculture production system’s life cycle • PRODUCTION: cultivation, harvest, irrigation, animal husbandry,. • TRANSPORTATION: by sea, by road, by railway. • RETAIL: wholesale, retail. y. Nat. 5. • PACKING: with plastic, with glass, with paper. ‧. 4. 學. 3. io. sit. 2. 政治大 • PROCESSING:立 food storage, freezing, processing aquaculture, forestry, fertilizers, pesticides. ‧ 國. 1. al. n. of food. er. • HOUSEHOLDS: cooking, domestic appliances, preserving / storage 6. v i n CSource: research based on LCA guideline ISO, 1997, a 2006, b 2006. h e own ngchi U. The data used in this research are the latest available complete data which are from. 2015; therefore, this study researches mainly that particular year. In few cases there are no available data from 2015, then the data from the closest year to 2015 would be used. The significant part of data is taken from Taiwanese government website concerning agriculture, the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, particularly from the Agriculture Statistics Yearbook 2015 (ASY, 2015). Another important source is also the Agriculture and Food Agency (AFA). Other than the internet sources, data and books, part of the data is based on the series of interviews with many public servants from different departments of the Council of Agriculture, since nearly for.

(19) 10. every kind of animal or plant has different government office and different worker dedicated. This interviews were conducted in the end of March and in the beginning of May.. For the purpose of environmental analysis in terms of energy consumption, the majority of data are originating from the Taiwan Power Company (TPC, 2015) and the Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs and their Energy Statistical Annual Reports (EMEA, 2016), which both provide detailed data about energy consumption in the all main sectors and much more. The missing data or coefficients. 政治大. are taken from other studies concerning energy issue, as it is more elaborated in the. 立. following part “Calculating the Energy Consumption”. For the rest of the. ‧ 國. 學. environmental part, data from the Council of Agriculture and from the Agriculture Statistics Yearbook 2015 (ASY, 2015) as well as from many other papers and studies,. ‧. some of them are originated from the Council of Agriculture’s publications section. y. Nat. al. er. io. sit. and some of them are from different sources across the globe will be used.. v. n. For economic analysis is based on data from the Council of Agriculture’s Statistics. Ch. engchi. i n U. Yearbook 2015 (ASY, 2015) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Statistics of Economic (MOAE, 2016). For the social dimension, data from the Agriculture Statistics Yearbook 2015 (ASY, 2015) from Council of Agriculture would be used as well as ideas from other scientific studies.. This research is limited on the data it uses to address its questions. This research simply assumes that all the data used are based on truth and with no significant inaccuracies. Consumption of other sectors are omitted since it is impossible to distinguish data concerning agriculture sector only, for example advertising on agricultural products from services sector..

(20) 11. 1.2.1 Calculating the Energy Consumption The inspiration for calculating energy consumption were derived from the Journal of Clean Production and in various studies concerning energy research and particularly in Heller and Keoleian (2002, 2003). Consumption may be classified into: first, direct consumption may be considered in the likes of fuel, electricity and animal feed and seeds while second, indirect consumption pertaining to the use of fertilizers, other treatments, or the depreciation of machinery. Only imported seeds were taken into account since domestic seeds are not included in any statistics and government has no. 政治大. record of data; therefore, domestic seeds are considered as an internal flow of. 立. consumption. The human labor is not taken into account in energy calculation.. ‧ 國. 學. For energy calculations total energy consumption in production of all products. ‧. including most stages in the life cycle, with accuracy as much as possible would be. sit. y. Nat. used. Some inputs of the agrarian sector are used with the same coefficients. n. al. er. io. considering that they use different energy sources. This is due to the fact that this. i n U. v. source offers only a median value, therefore, it was impossible to distinguish between. Ch. engchi. diverse energy sources. Energy consumption used to produce imported agricultural products is not taken into consideration. Since it is not possible to distinguish energy consumed to produce goods for export, this energy consumption is taken into account.. Estimation of the real energy consumption of agriculture sector distinguish between consumption for livestock, fishing, farming machinery and irrigation. To estimate primary energy consumption derived from the application of inorganic fertilizers is taken from Helsel’s coefficients (1992). According to these calculations, the production of each kg of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium consumes 78,230 kJ, 17,500 kJ, and 13,800 kJ, respectively in stages of production, packaging,.

(21) 12. transportation and application. They are all included in this paper’s estimations. Pesticides calculations are based on Ferraro (2007) research about pesticides’ use and consumption. The amount of nutrients and energy consumed in Taiwan in year 2015 is available in the Agriculture Statistics Yearbook 2015 (ASY, 2015).. In case of sea transportation, to calculate the energy consumed by the export and import of agricultural products come from the Agriculture Statistics Yearbook 2002 (ASY, 2002) and Annual Report 2015 of Bureau of Foreign Trade (Ministry of Economic Affairs, 2015). For calculating land transportation were used data from the. 政治大. Ministry of Transportation and Communications and its Statistics Inquiry (MTC,. 立. 2017). Since the statistics above do not provide precise number of tons related with. ‧ 國. 學. agriculture, this research works with value amounts recalculated with the same ratio to ton amounts. The sea transportation provides data about imported and exported. ‧. value goods by country. Therefore, this percentage of value is used to calculate tons. y. Nat. io. sit. of transported, exported and imported goods and we assume that the same percentage. n. al. er. is applicable to number of tons.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Then, for the data about the distance between the largest port in Taiwan, Kaohsiung, and the main sea ports in the major export and import destination areas are based on SeaRates database (http://www.searates.com, viewed on March 2017). To data of sea transportation were applied the coefficient of 0.2 MJ1 per t/km and to data of land transportation were used the coefficient 1.7 MJ per t/km compiled by different case studies for the EU and the rest of the world (Peréz and Monzón, 2008).. The processing calculations are reflecting the amount of final energy consumed by. 1. MJ (= megajoule) is equal to one million (106) joules, or approximately the kinetic energy of a one megagram (tonne) vehicle moving at 160 km/h..

(22) 13. agriculture industry based on data from Taiwan Power Company (TPC, 2015). In case of packaging, data are based on that which were provided by public servants during interviews with the Council of Agriculture’s workers. The consumption of plastics for packaging food in Taiwan in 2015 was approximately 627,000 tons.. The calculations for energy consumption per material produced are based on Heller and Keoleian (2002) which adapt the data produced by SAE (1998) about the coefficients applicable to packaging for the estimation of LCA. This gives the indirect primary energy consumption for the life-cycle packaging stage of agricultural production in Taiwan.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. For retail, data came from the Taipei Power Company (TPC, 2015) and from the Energy Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs (EMEA, 2016 a) providing the final. ‧. energy consumption figures for the services related sector to agriculture sector. These. sit. y. Nat. services are wholesale of agricultural raw materials and live animals (120,325,861. n. al. er. io. kWh2) and retail of agriculture raw materials and live animals (140,150,248 kWh).. i n U. v. Agriculture related services consumed around 5.63% of energy expenses on. Ch. engchi. wholesale and retail services (TCP, 2015). The energy consumed by households for cooking purposes, such as gas or electricity, is adapted from the Journal of Clean Production studies concerning this issue.. 2. kWh = kilowatt hour..

(23) 14. 2. Taiwanese agriculture Taiwan is located in subtropical zone characterized by high temperatures and heavy rainfall in summer, winter season is usually quite warm with no snowfall, except high mountains. These conditions are fitting well for agriculture and, unfortunately, also for breeding of insects and diseases. Picture 1.: Land in Taiwan. Source:. Taiwan is known for frequent typhoons mostly in. http://www.taiwan-agriculture.org/. summer and autumn. Total area of Taiwanese island is. 政治大. 35,981 km2 where is 29% of flat land (Figure 2, below) and around 24% of arable. 立. Agriculture nationally contributes. Figure 2: Types of land in Taiwan. 學. ‧ 國. ‧. to the food security, rural. Nat. development and conservation of. 29%. sit. 33%. main industries. In Taiwan, the. n. 38%. Ch. engchi. agriculture sector contributed as a strong foundation for commercial. er. io. Taiwan, it remains as one of the. al. y. land (AFA, 2014).. i n U. Mountainous land. Slope land Flat land. v. Data source: http://www.taiwan-agriculture.org/. and industrial “economic miracle” during which was challenged by rapid economic development and increasing wages. Agricultural population has steadily decreased from 1974 to 2002; therefore, the Council of Agriculture promoted modern farm management, provided technical training and offers counseling. However, compared to 1950s and 1960s, agriculture sector plays minor role in the Taiwanese economy today.. In 2002, Taiwan joined World Trade Organization (WTO) and consequently its.

(24) 15. commitments were fulfilled as liberalization of trade with no more protective trade measures, for example, import of 94,068 tons of brown rice each year. As one of the condition for entering WTO, Taiwan signed a market access agreement with U.S. which is releasing import bans on goods from U.S. This agreement together with political game of U.S. playing the guardian of Taiwan creates a certain pressure on Taiwanese government resulting in huge imports of cheaper foodstuffs from U.S. and in lower status for agriculture sector. Thus, joining WTO formed a new situation for agricultural production in Taiwan since cheap imported goods resulted in decrease of. 政治大 internationalization of agriculture sector became very intensive and farm land shifted 立 prices and many farmers had to find a new way how to make a living. Thus,. to use for leisure and recreation purposes (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2000, p.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 110).. According to Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, Taiwan has three following. y. Nat. al. er. io. v. Quality-agriculture product processing: develop new innovative products. n. I.. sit. advantages (COA a, 2014):. Ch. engchi. i n U. which can create new consumer patterns and demands. Increase agricultural product’s added-value and help expand overseas markets.. II.. Key technologies and research capabilities such as breeding, cultivation, storage, and transportation: the improvement of agro-products’ easy storage and transportation through key technologies will significantly increase such products’ time and space value, which will elevate the agricultural value chain..

(25) 16. III.. Agro-product safety management system: Taiwan has already established important agro-product safety management systems such as traceable agricultural products (TAP), good agricultural practices (GAP), and organic farming.. Figure 3: Variation of agriculture and food production value (UNIT: billion NTD). 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Source: AFA, 2016.. In 2013, the Free Economic Pilot Zones (FEPZ) were established enabling. sit. y. Nat. improved administrative effectiveness and releasing all restrictions on the flow of. io. al. er. goods, personnel, fiscal policies, foreign investments, tariff adjustment etc. (COA a, 2014). The government policy creating FEPZ and encouraging exports with provided. n. v i n C h conditions resulted advantages enabled better export e n g c h i U in agricultural production. increase in following year. Figure 3 (previous page) shows variation of agricultureal production with pie chart and history of total food production value from 2006 to 2015. From 2011 to 2013, the production increased moderate, but in 2013, after creating FEPZ, there is visible increase in agriculture production by 6.92% from 231 billion to 247 billion NTD.. Three objectives in Taiwanese agriculture set by the government are (1) to raise quality of the work force, improve efficiency in the use of farmland, adjust the production structure, increase value added, lower marketing costs and raise.

(26) 17. competitiveness; (2) to improve welfare for farmers and their families, to improve culture and the quality of life in rural areas, to narrow gap in the living standards between city and country and to achieve an equitable distribution of wealth; (3) to ensure sustainable use of agriculture resources, harmonize agriculture and the environment and to sustain and enrich the nation’s “green assets,” partly through encouraging development of recreational farms.. Stable food production and ensuring farmer’s profits are necessary to ensure national food security. Since 1974, guaranteed prices for farmers was ensured by Agriculture. 政治大. and Food Agency, under the Council of Agriculture, by purchasing rice with certain. 立. price. Security level of food is set for rice reserve sufficient for three months’. ‧ 國. 學. consumption, ensured by imported rice and domestic guaranteed prices. This reserve is periodically provided to the military, prisons, schools, brewing, overseas charity. ‧. aids, and for the domestic market during natural disasters and abnormal price. y. Nat. n. a 2.1 Development. er. io. sit. fluctuation. (AFA, 2014). iv l C n hengchi U. Formerly, the agriculture sector in Taiwan was the main pillar of the fast economic development after the Second World War; however, later Taiwan shifted to science and technology oriented. Therefore, agriculture lost its importance in development process and transformed into heavily subsidized sector of economy (Rains 2007, 42) and without any change in this state remains until today. In 1977, special fund was established by government for accelerating farm mechanization. As result, planting and harvesting of the most important products as crop and rice were nearly 100% mechanized. In 1998, the “Animal Protection Act” was implemented as the social value and people’s conception changed..

(27) 18. Facing the challenge of trade liberalization and extreme climate change, the government is trying to turn the crisis into opportunities by establishing paradigms in agriculture, constructing safety system for agricultural products, and enhancing marketing abilities in agriculture (COA c, 2016). Taiwan’s food supply has relatively low self-sufficiency because food is mainly imported. Population in rural areas is considerably aging and birth rate is decreasing; consequently, shortages in manpower, as is shown in Figure 4 “Agriculture Employment” (next page), has impact on its productivity and on its competitiveness with other countries. Therefore, in. 政治大 Smart Agricultural 4.0. The Council of Agriculture is targeting agri-biotechnology, 立 government, there is a will to expand technological innovation through the project. quality agriculture, and precision industries (COA a, 2016).. ‧ 國. 學 y. sit. io. 800000. Nat. 900000. n. al. er. 1000000. ‧. Figure 4: Agriculture employment (UNIT: persons). 700000 600000. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 500000 400000. Agriculture. Source: Energy Statistics Handbook 2015.. At the recent years, major policies continue to promote the industry as well as restructuring of agriculture resources to increase competitiveness of Taiwanese agriculture. Also, the policies are focusing on driving innovation and extend the scope of agriculture by integration primary industry into secondary and third industries, for.

(28) 19. instance, promotion of agritourism. Green technologies and intelligent information are used in order to create environment for very efficient and modern agriculture production system, resulting in increase of output. Additional aim is to create operational and service-oriented development of agriculture sector (Lee, 2014).. According to the newest data from COA Annual Report, main objectives of agricultural policies focus on building new agricultural value chains, continuing to broaden and deepen global strategy for agriculture, promoting “local production, local consumption,” increase effectiveness of testing and disease prevention for plants and. 政治大. animals. The last mentioned is not really followed by the current government, as is. 立. more elaborated in the Pesticides section (COA, 2015). The Council of Agriculture’s. ‧ 國. 學. New Agriculture Project concerns creation of agro-products information cloud enabling traceability in agricultural goods by finishing nine daughter regulations and. ‧. nearly a hundred regulations of Taiwan Good Agricultural Practices (TGAP) for main. y. Nat. al. er. io. sit. products (COA, 2017).. v. n. The Council of Agriculture sets new goals and policies for the agricultural strategy in. Ch. engchi. i n U. the medium-run 2017-2020. The new vision is to consolidate small scale agribusiness while fostering agricultural enterprises and establish national agricultural and fishery products export company to export to Southeast and Middle East Muslim market. With new policies there is also plan to substitute imported crops by domestic production, reduce chemical fertilizer and pesticides, promote environmental friendly and organic farming, and fertilize fallow land by promoting biochar3. Encourage schools to use local products and educate kids about advantages of buying local products. The new system enables to track products and their safety. Farmers will be. 3. Biochar is charcoal used as a soil amendment..

(29) 20. encouraged to grow non-genetically modified soy beans and corn in order to increase rural vitality and farmers’ income. Council of Agriculture will promote organic farming, biotic control, and carbon sequestration technology aiming to enhance water conservation, soil fertility preservation and soil microbe (COA c, 2016).. 2.2 Efforts towards sustainability In this research, sustainability is defined as the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development and institutional change. 政治大 and aspirations. The complete 立 sustainability problem is solved when all the three. are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs. ‧ 國. 學. pillars of sustainability, environmental, social and economic, are sustainable.. ‧. Taiwanese government is aware of great exhaustion energy and natural resources as. y. Nat. well as damaging natural environment caused by global economic development.. er. io. sit. There is also concern about the location of Taiwan which is considered as on the borderline of high risk area by international climate change researchers. “Historical. al. n. v i n Ch data show that increasing temperature, shifting of precipitation patterns, rising sea engchi U level, and tendency of frequent and intensified extreme climate all influence agricultural production and biodiversity of Taiwan (COA b, 2016).”. In response to climate change, the Council of Agriculture held the Agricultural Adaptation Policy Conference in 2010. In 2012, the National Adaptation Strategy guidelines to Climate Change has been approved by the Executive Yuan referring different adaptation measures from various countries with consideration of Taiwan’s historical experience and specific environment, embracing disasters, critical infrastructure, water resources, land use, coastal zones, energy supply and industry,.

(30) 21. agriculture production and biodiversity, and health topics. In 2015, the Action Plan for adaptation to climate Change in Taiwan (2013-2017) was accepted suggesting complete adaptation and implementation. (COA b, 2016). After adopting international standard to estimate the domestic emission, the Council of Agriculture successfully reduced GHGs emission produced by the agriculture sector by 24% from 7.274 million metric tons (in CO2 4eq.) in 2005 to 5.537 million metric tons in 2014. The share of emission from agriculture took 1.95% of overall emission in 2014 (COA, 2017). According to national and international level, The Council of Agriculture. 政治大 affect water, land, biodiversity, and other natural resources, factors on which depends 立 continues to promote agricultural adaptation against climate change which directly. agricultural production.. ‧ 國. 學. 3. Fertilizers. Nat. y. ‧. 3.1 Definition and introduction. er. io. sit. Fertilizers are by the International Fertilizer Association defined as “any solid, liquid or gaseous substances containing one or more plant nutrients. The purpose of. al. v i n to supplementC the natural supply of soil h e n g c h i U nutrient, build up soil fertility in n. 5. fertilizers is. order to satisfy the demand of crops with a high yield potential and to compensate for the nutrients taken by harvested products or lost by unavoidable leakages to the environment, in order to maintain good soil conditions for cropping (IFA).”. For the purpose of this paper, fertilizers are divided into two categories, chemical fertilizers and organic fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers (or inorganic, synthetic, artificial or manufactured fertilizers) are produced from petroleum products, rocks or. 4 5. CO2 = carbon dioxide. Corrected from the original “are”..

(31) 22. even organic resources and refined to extract a pure state and stripped of substances to get specific ratios of nutrients. Since plant are exposed to nutrients immediately, improvement occurs in days. Price of chemical fertilizers is inexpensive while standardized labeling makes ratios and chemical sources are easy to understand. The following are considered disadvantages: they are produced from nonrenewable resources, including fossil fuels, they help to grow plants but not to sustain the soil nor support soil health. Even products labeled as “complete” do not include decaying matter necessary to improve soil structure. Actually, chemical. 政治大 crop plantings, resulting立 in long-term damage and degradation of the soil. There is. fertilizers do not replace many trace elements that are gradually depleted by repeated. ‧ 國. 學. also danger of over fertilization which do not kill plants but upset the entire ecosystem and, consequently, have negative impact to the environment. In addition, they tend to. ‧. leach and filter away from plants, this makes them require additional applications.. sit. y. Nat. Furthermore, repeated application may result in a toxic accumulation of chemical as. al. er. io. arsenic, cadmium, and uranium in the soil, even these toxics are eventually absorbed. v. n. by the fruit and vegetable itself. And finally, long-term usage changes the soil pH6,. Ch. engchi. i n U. intervene beneficial microbial ecosystem, increase pests, and even contribute to the release of greenhouse gases. Consequently, the more fertilizers are used, the more pesticides are needed.. Organic fertilizers (or natural fertilizers) are defined as made from plant or animal or powdered minerals while minimally processed and the nutrients remain is bounded with natural forms, rather than been extracted and refined, for example, manure or compost. Since the nutrient ratios are difficult to guarantee, they can be. 6. pH (=potential of hydrogen) is a numeric scale used to specify the acidity or basicity..

(32) 23. sold under name “soil conditioners” rather than fertilizers. Using organic fertilizers make it difficult to “over” fertilize or harm plants and the overall risk is extremely low. Organic fertilizers are renewable, sustainable, biodegradable, and environmentally friendly.. Disadvantages would be the limitation by seasonal usage, need of following natural rules, in other words, releasing nutrient takes some time, and information about nutrient ratios are unknown and overall lower than in chemical fertilizers. However, by its usage, microorganisms obtain energy from decaying plant and animal. 政治大. matter; therefore, organic fertilizer provides a complete package of nutrients for soil.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Despite land degradation, agricultural yields continue to increase, mostly because of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides temporarily boost soil productivity.. ‧. Chemical fertilizer application can increase short term crop yields or improve. sit. y. Nat. aesthetic look of grass and flowers; in the same time, it comes with its share of. n. al. er. io. harming environmental and negative health effects. Plants’ stems are unable to absorb. i n U. v. all of the fertilizer applied to the soil. In fact, it is estimated that about one half of. Ch. engchi. every metric ton of fertilizer applied to fields never even reach the plants, but instead ends up evaporating or being washed into local waterways.. 3.2 Efficiency and Sustainability Analysis In following part, chemical fertilizers are elaborated in more detailed way than organic fertilizers since organic fertilizers are in accordance with sustainable agriculture methods and do not harm the environment. Typically, the most of chemical fertilizers consist of three main macronutrients which are the primary major nutrients required for plant growth: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)..

(33) 24. Nitrogen is used for leaf growth; phosphorus for roots developments, flowers, seeds and fruit; and potassium is used for strong stem growth, movement of water in plants, promotion of flowering and fruiting (Dittmar, 2009).. In general, consumption of fertilizers in East Asia is very high compared to other world regions through history, as is presented in the work by Max Roser in Figure 5 “Fertilizer use by developing. 政治大. regions and type (nitrogen, phosphates,. 立. 學. ‧ 國. potassium in kg/ha) between 1961-1999” (right) and in Figure 6 “Consumption of fertilizers by world regions from 1961 to. ‧. 2002” (below). The same for waste. Figure 5: Fertilizer use by developing regions and. io. phosphorus which is more elaborated in the. n. al. Ch. engchi. y. sit. between 1961-1999. Source: Roser, 2016, based on. er. Nat. type (nitrogen, phosphates, potassium in kg/ha). generated by production of nitrogen and. i n U. FAO data (Fertilizer Archive).. v. Figure 6: Consumption of fertilizers by world regions from 1961 to 2002. Source: Roser, 2016, based on FAO data (Fertilizer Archive)..

(34) 25. last part of this part.. In Taiwan, in order to obtain high yields, amounts of N given to plants are often higher than required. In case of other three east Asian countries, China, Japan, South Korea, fertilizers are also overused (Lian, 1991; Ahmed, 1994). This significantly decreases the productive efficiency of N because of limited absorption and utilization. The excess of applied nitrogen remains in the soil in the form of nitrate which, due to leaching and denitrification, are usually lost. Denitrification is typical case for wet soil with a lack of oxygen, for example, rice field. Timing of nitrogen application is also. 政治大. important to increase effectivity in increasing yield.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Over the four decades between 1950 and 1990, the fertilizer consumption in Taiwan was increasing and it is estimated that in 1991 farmers used about 1.3 million. ‧. m.t. of fertilizer (0.4 million m.t. of nutrients) annually. In that time, the average rate. sit. y. Nat. for consumption of N-P-K in Taiwan was one of the highest in the world (at 269-78-. n. al. er. io. 112 kg/per hectare of arable land, or 188-55-79 kg/ha per crop). Compared to. i n U. v. absorbed N by plant, the rate of N applied to vegetables is three to five times higher.. Ch. engchi. The main reason is the outcome which makes leafy vegetables to grow rapidly and with good quality, resulting in high prices in the market. Excessive usage of N is also in case of fruit trees, where chemical fertilizers and manure (organic fertilizers) are applied together, resulting in twelve times higher ratio of applied N then removed by harvested fruit. The N remain is far higher than needed also for other agriculture products, remaining as inorganic nitrogen. Due to leaching, losses of N are approximately from 13% to 102% (Lian, 1991; Ahmed, 1994)..

(35) 26. Over the last two decades from 1997 to 2015, consumption of fertilizers decreased approximately by 20% from 1,203,163 m.t. in 1997 to 959,623 m.t. in 2015. This is displayed in Figure 7 “Fertilizers in Taiwan from 1997 to 2015” (below) where is also evident that import of fertilizers remains near average 474,842 m.t. and export almost triples in 2015 compared to 18 years ago. Production of fertilizers is variable with slight decrease over time, with the highest amount of 1,678,511 m.t. in 1998 and lowest amount of 1,195,553 m.t. in 2015.. FIGURE 7: CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS IN TAIWAN FROM 1997 TO 2015 (UNIT: METRIC TONS) 1800000. 立. 1600000 1400000. 0. y. Nat. 200000. sit. 400000. ‧. 600000. Data source: Ag. Statistical Yearboo. io. 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015. er. 800000. ‧ 國. 1000000. Data source: ASY, 2015 and 2008.. 學. 1200000. 政治大. n. Consumption Import aProduction vExport i l C hengchi Un. Figure 8, “Chemical Fertilizers Usage in Taiwan 2015” (next page) shows more details about types of used chemical fertilizers indicating that mostly are used combinations of chemical fertilizers then only single one. The total fertilizer production stood for 1,195,553 m.t., the total consumption of fertilizers in 2015 accounted 959,623 m.t., import and export were 503,852 m.t. and 355,728 m.t. respectively; therefore, the surplus of inorganic fertilizers accounted 348,054 m.t. in.

(36) 27. 2015.. 1,195,553. FIGURE 8: CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS USAGE IN TAIWAN 2015 (UNIT: METRIC TON) Consumption. Import. Export. Data source: ASY, 2015.. 959,623. Production. UREA. CALCIUM SUPERPHOSPHATE. OTHERS. sit. y. Nat. According to the largest fertilizer company in Taiwan, Taiwan Fertilizer Co.,. io. er. Ltd., the ratio of N-P-K (N-P2O5-K) for Ammonium Sulphate is 21-0-0, for Urea is. al. 46-0-0, for Calcium Superphosphate 0-18-0, and other artificial fertilizers are. n. v i n C0-0-60 Potassium Chloride with ratio Potassium Sulfate with 0-0-50. (TFC, 2014) h e nand gchi U N-P-K numbers represents the percentage by weight of the three major nutrients nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium.. Fertilizers also contain metals as cooper, iron, cobalt, aluminum, etc. However, these metals are not major three nutrients and their percentage do not have to be displayed on index of each product. Since there is no law to obligate fertilizers’ producers to inform users in details about products, no other information about content of fertilizers is given except the three major nutrients.. 152,993. 302,527 53,657. 47,466 1. 0. 13. 92,308. 102,423. 0. 51,211. 201,958. 108,013. 78,696. 759. 20,206. AMMONIUM SULPHAT. ‧. ‧ 國. COMBINED FERTILIZERS. 學. GRAND TOTAL. 立. 政治大. 36,248. 360,392. 710,494. 695,387 355,728. 503,852. ..

(37) 28. Picture 2A. Fertilizer 1. Picture 2B. Fertilizer 1 Picture 2C. Fertilizer 1. 立. Picture 2D. Fertilizer 1. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 Picture 3A. Fertilizer 2. y. Nat. Picture 3B. Fertilizer 2. n. al. Picture 2E. Fertilizer 1 detail on conposition. Ch. engchi. This is visible on Pictures 2 A-E and 3. er. io. sit. Pictures 2A – 3C. Source: own pictures.. i n U. v. A-C (above), particularly Pictures 2 E and 3 C show detail of two fertilizers’ composition where are specified only the three major nutrients. Fertilizer 1 on the Picture 2 E report only 29% of its compound and Fertilizer 2 on the Picture 3 C describe 35% of its. Picture 3C. Fertilizer 2 detail on composition. composition. For some reason the rest of compound remains mystery and customer has to rely on his/her trust to producer that the 50% of product are not heavy metals.

(38) 29. nor any other chemicals which have negative impact on human health. The result of majority researches concerning fertilizers and pesticides conducted by the government are also not available for public. This topic is more elaborated in the next part about pesticides and Taiwan Agriculture Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan.. For computing the produced and consumed N-P-K in Taiwan for year 2015, ratios provided by Taiwan Fertilizer Company are used and as well as data about fertilizers from Agriculture Statistical Yearbook 2015. The result is presented in Table. 政治大. 1, “Three major fertilizer nutrients production and consumption in 2015” (below). In. 立. 2015, total nitrogen produced accounted 180,617 m.t., phosphorus 39,639 m.t., and. ‧ 國. 學. potassium 62,270 m.t. while total consumed amount of these three fertilizers are 178,584 m.t., 24,890 m.t. and 112,847 m.t. respectively.. ‧. Nitrogen (N). n. al. Produced Consumed. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Table 1: Three major fertilizer nutrients production and consumption in 2015 (UNIT: m.t.) Phosphorus (P). iv. n U engchi 178,584 24,890. Ch. 180,617. 39,639. Potassium (K) 62,270 112,947. Source: own calculation using data from ASY, 2015; TFC, 2014.. These data in metric tons are converted into energy with Table 2 “World average of energy requirement for production, packaging, transportation, and application of inorganic fertilizers” (below) computed by Helsel (1992). Production and packaging parts are calculated with produced fertilizers while transportation and application are calculated with consumed amount of fertilizers. Fertilizers for import and export are omitted from this calculation since it is not clear what process is made with imported.

(39) 30. and exported fertilizers, for instance, whether they are already packed before import or packet after import. Therefore, the result of energy is the minimal energy consumption in fertilizer’s life cycle.. Table 2: World average of energy requirement for production, packaging, transportation, and application of inorganic fertilizers (UNIT: kJ / kg) Nitrogen (N). Phosphorus (P). Potassium (K). Produce. 69,530. 7,700. 6,400. Package. 2,600. Transport. 4,500. Apply. 1,600. 1,500. 78,230. 17,500. 4,600 1,000 13,800. ‧. ‧ 國. 1,800. 學. Data source: Helsel, 1992.. io. sit. y. Nat. al. er. Total. 立. 政治2,600大 5,700. The result is displayed in Table 3 “Total energy requirement for production,. n. v i n C application packaging, transportation, and h e n g cofhinorganic i U fertilizers in Taiwan” (next. page) about total energy consumption of nitrogen was 14,117,226 GJ7, phosphorus consumed 187,489.7 GJ, and potassium total energy consumption accounted 1,143,117 GJ. The grand total of energy consumption was 15,847,872.7 GJ, equivalent to 15.872 PJ8.. 7. GJ (= gigajoule) is equal to one billion (109) joules. 6 GJ is about the amount of potential chemical energy in 160 L (approximately one US standard barrel) of oil, when combusted. 8 PJ (= petajoule) is equal to one quadrillion (1015) joules. 210 PJ is equivalent to about 50 megatons of TNT. This is the amount of energy released by the Tsar Bomba, the largest man-made nuclear explosion ever..

(40) 31. Table 3: Total energy requirement for production, packaging, transportation, and application of inorganic fertilizers in Taiwan 2015 (UNIT: GJ ) Nitrogen (N). Phosphorus (P). Potassium (K). 12,558,300. 305,220. 398,528. Package (produced). 469,604. 103,061. 112,086. Transport (consumed). 803,628. 141,873. 519,556. Apply (consumed). 285,734. 37,335. 112,947. 14,117,266. 587,489.7. 1,143,117. Produce. Total Grand total. 15,847,872.7. Grand total in PJ. 立. 政治大15.872. Source: own calculation based on Helsel’s (1992) world average data; ASY, 2015;. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. TFC, 2014.. 10. n. er. io. al. sit. Price NTD/kg. 9 8 7 6 5. y. Nat. FIGURE 9: AVERAGE PRICE OF FERTILIZERS IN TAIWAN BETWEEN 1994 AND 2015 (UNIT: NTD PER KG). Ch. i n U. e n g 6.6c h6.9i 6.7 6.8. v. 8.9 8.6 8.8 8.8. 7.9 7.7 7.6 7.8. 5.9. 5. 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.3 5.3 5.4. 4. Data source: ASY, 2015, 2007, and 2003.. The Figure 9 “Average price of fertilizers in Taiwan between 1994 and 2015” (above) presents the changes in the average price of fertilizers over the last two decades from 1994 to 2015. In first part of observed period of time from 1994 to 2002, the average price of fertilizers remained quite stable, then after 2002 followed 3.

(41) 32. waves of increases in prices in 2003, 2007, and 2011. The recent average price from 2012 to 2015 was higher by 41% compare to first part of observed period of time from 1994 to 2002. The total consumption of fertilizers in 2015 accounted 959,623 m.t. equivalent to 959,623,000 kg with the total price of 8,540,644,700 NTD (8.9 NTD/kg). If the same amount of fertilizers would be consumed 16 years ago in year 1999, the total price would be only 4,990,039,600 NTD, making difference of 3,550,605,100 NTD in total. Thus, the overall increase in average price has significant impact on farmers who have to pay 41% higher expenditures for fertilizers within two decades.. 立. 政治大. In addition, all three chemicals N-P-K are energy intensive to produce creating. ‧ 國. 學. vast amounts of waste, and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. The production of nitric acid, the primary feedstock for synthetic commercial fertilizer, is also a. ‧. source of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 310 times more robust and influential than. y. Nat. n. al. Ch. engchi. er. io. emissions of 2.9 million vehicles (EPA, 2016).. sit. carbon dioxide. Nitrous oxide accounted for 15.9 Tg CO2E in 2005, the equivalent. i n U. v. Producing one unit of N (nitrogen) requires 1.4 units of carbon and additional 3 units of carbon are required to manufacture, transport and apply 1 unit of phosphorus (P2O5 fertilizer). For every ton of phosphoric acid produced, additional five tons of phosphogypsum are generated. Over the past 50 years, more than 700 million m.t. of phosphogypsum have accumulated in U.S. in Florida alone. In 2005, huge stacks are covering there more than 300 hectares and more than 60 meters high with settling ponds that threaten local water sources (EPA, 2016). After recalculation of these information to production in Taiwan where was produced 180,617 m.t. of nitrogen, then we get 252,836.8 m.t. of carbon necessary to fulfill the nitrogen production in.

(42) 33. 2015. And to manufacture, transport and apply 39,639 m.t. of phosphorus, there is generated 118,917 m.t. of carbon dioxide and also huge amount of wastewater by phosphogypsum accounting 198,195 m.t. in 2015 alone. It would be interesting to find out where is such a huge amount of waste is stored.. Nitrogen inorganic fertilization has both regional and global consequences. Many research confirmed that excess of nitrate causes serious problems to the soil and the environment (Addiscott, 1991). In addition, experiments showed that lower rates of nitrogen fertilizer reduced the loss of nitrogen without affecting yield and grain. 政治大. quality, saving farmers money and reducing environmental impact (Matson et al.,. 立. 1998). Long-term field observations for several decades often showed that metals. ‧ 國. 學. contained in chemicals used in agricultural can remain in soil, even in nonacid soil when total metal concentration are below the proposed limits, and harm sensitive. ‧. crops and microbes (McBride, 1994).. sit. y. Nat. al. er. io. In contrast, the nitrogen concentration in compost, natural fertilizer, is found in. v. n. stable compounds in the organic matter. The nitrogen compounds remain in the soil,. Ch. engchi. i n U. available for uptake by the plant roots over a long period of time, greatly reducing the threat of water pollution and eutrophication. According to the European Commission, long-term application of compost will establish higher nitrogen levels in soils such that compost will completely displace synthetic fertilizers (Smith et al., 2001)..

(43) 34. 4. Pesticides 4.1 Definition and introduction The Toxic Action Center9 says, “pesticides are the only toxic substances released intentionally into our environment to kill living things. This includes substances that kill weeds (herbicides), insects (insecticides), fungus (fungicides), rodents (rodenticides), and others. The use of toxic pesticides to manage pest problems has become a common practice around the world. Pesticides are used almost everywhere. 政治大 and roads. It is difficult立 to find somewhere where pesticides aren't used -- from the can -- not only in agricultural fields, but also in homes, parks, schools, buildings, forests,. ‧ 國. 學. of bug spray under the kitchen sink to the airplane crop dusting acres of farmland, our world is filled with pesticides. In addition, pesticides can be found in the air we. ‧. breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink (Toxics Action Center, 2015).”. y. Nat. er. io. sit. “Chronic human toxicity refers to product properties that may. n. al. Ch. cause any adverse effect as a. result of repeated or long-term. engchi. i n U. v. exposure. Such adverse effects could for instance include cancers or developmental. Picture 4.: The pesticide cycle. Source: nile.riverawarenessskit.org. disorders (FAO, 2016, p. 10).” According to the World Health Organization, some 3 million people a year suffer from severe pesticide poisoning. Pesticide exposure can lead to cancer, birth defects. 9. The Toxic Action Center: Organizing with residents to clean up and prevent pollution in New England since 1987..

(44) 35. and damage to the nervous system. Drinking water contaminated by pesticide runoff is a main source of exposure (EPA, 2016). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, for high risk pesticides exists three categories divided according to hazard they cause, namely “may cause cancer”, “may cause genetic defects”, and “may damage fertility the unborn child (FAO, 2016, p. 33).”. 4.2 Efficiency and Impact on Human Health Analysis It is crucial to pay attention to following researches conducted in order to investigate. 政治大 from the University of 立 Montreal and Harvard University releasing a study that has. impact of pesticides on human health. The first research was performed by scientists. ‧ 國. 學. discovered that exposure to organophosphate pesticides is associated with increased risk of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children (ADHD) (Bouchard et al.,. ‧. 2010).. y. Nat. er. io. sit. The second study by the Public Health Institute, the California Department of Health Services, and the UC Berkley School of Public Health revealed a six times increase in. al. n. v i n C hdisorder (ADS) forUchildren and women exposed to risk factor for autism spectrum engchi organochlorine pesticides (Roberts et al., 2007). Organochloride pesticides are in. category of Persistent Organic Pollutant, they are able to persist in the environment and even to accumulate to high levels. Thus, they are not only causing increase of autism probability for children six times, but they also pose a risk to the environment by its accumulation and concentration (Tsai, 2010).. In Taiwan, due to the widespread use of pesticides in the agricultural sector, the soil contamination by organochlorine pesticides occurred during 1950s – 1970s, estimating of two million kilogram of organochlorine pesticides released annually (Vu.