Good fruit from bad land
Zeng says that the badlands are a barren land that suffers landslides after every heavy rainfall and typhoon. People had tried to cultivate the gentler slopes, but couldn’t grow anything even with constant applications of fertilizer.
“Simple farmers like us couldn’t grasp the virtues of this soil. All we knew was that the soil was hard to farm, sticky when damp and hard when dry. But sugarcane grown in it has a high sweetness index and makes very flavorful raw sugar. When researchers analyzed the soil, they discovered why: the badlands soil is rich in minerals, such as magnesium and iron, that give the crops grown in it a unique flavor.”
But you have to adapt the crops to the badlands. Farming its mudstone soil means choosing appropriate fruits, which turned out to be guava, sugar apples, atemoya, mango, and citrus, and then asking the Council of Agriculture to provide helpful classes.
Cai Hongmo returned to his village and decided to take up environmentally friendly farming after retiring from Sanyang Motors. He now grows guava with flesh so crisp and delicious that he can’t even keep up with the demand from his former coworkers.
Zeng says that when the Forestry Bureau decided in 2010 to create the Lichi Badlands Geopark and involve the community in promoting it, the community supported the idea of using the park to promote the development of local businesses. Young people in Liji and other remote villages had little choice but to look outside their economically challenged communities for work, resulting in outward migration and aging populations. If the park could revive businesses and stimulate the creation of local jobs, its promotion of tourism and landscape conservation would be a win for everyone.
The community association worked hard to entice retired police officers and other former residents to come back and farm, and encouraged farmers to turn to Taiwanese Aborigines in nearby villages for help during busy periods. When sales of badlands fruits picked up, Aborigines who had been working only part time started their own farms, replanting fallow and abandoned paddies.
Zeng says that where Liji’s farmers used to have to look elsewhere for part-time work, they now scour surrounding villages for help during the agricultural high season.
Locals are proud of their work with the geopark to promote the development of the local economy, and to produce good people and good fruit from the badlands. The success of Liji’s agriculture and Fuyuan’s ecotours proves that residents can peacefully coexist with the Earth.
Badlands star apples are a favorite of immigrants from Vietnam.
Firm-fleshed badlands sugar apples can weigh more than 600 grams each.
Liji Village’s fruit production and marketing team grows a variety of badlands fruits.
Cooperation between local businesses and geological conservationists has helped area residents realize that their badlands are a treasure.