With the aim of marketing Anding District’s homegrown sesame, the district’s agricultural staple, as well as promoting a low-carbon and healthy lifestyle, Anding District Sesame Industry and Culture Festival was paired up with the Zengwen Riverside Road Run this year. The race’s starting pistol was fired at 7:30 am on Saturday, December 15. Over 3,000 people attended this big event, which featured an assortment of sesame-themed activities.
With the parking lot on the right-hand side of Anding District Office chosen as this sesame festival’s location, the district office and Anding Farmers’ Association served as co-hosts. This year incorporated a road run, a fitness craze that took off in Taiwan a few years ago. This competition gave participants an opportunity to improve their health while taking in the beautiful scenery of farm fields and Zengwen River. Anding District Chief Liu Shih-Hsiung expressed that the sesame variety Tainan No. 1 is the pride of Anding, and he hopes that by hosting this event that more Tainan City residents will get to know about the sesame Anding produces.
The event offered visitors all different sorts of delicious food with sesame in it, and the raffle’s lucky winners took home prizes, such as ovens, bicycles, and sesame oil gift boxes. The crowd really got into the various free games where people could get their hands on DIY gifts. In addition to popular local dishes being available for purchase, many fresh agricultural goods and processed foods from Anding Farmers’ Association as well as young and/or new farmers were exhibited and sold. Anding District Public Health Center provided breast mammograms as part of its effort to safeguard the public’s health.
Tainan’s surface area of sesame fields and its output of this crop account for over 80% of the nation’s, explaining why sesame’s seen as an important local farm product. Essentially, it shows that the city can develop unique crop varieties and that it’s implementing sustainable development for the local farming industry. Something new was tried this year as well; sesame combine harvesters replaced manpower, thereby reducing the amount of work needed to be done by old farmers.
Anding Farmers’ Association has made a contract farming deal with local farmers that involves the production of sesame oil. The deal seeks to raise the earnings of farmers in exchange for a requirement that ensures farmers will follow safety regulations for pesticide use in farm fields. Pesticide residue testing will also be carried out after harvesting as a means to ensure food safety for consumers. The district had Tainan City Government’s Agriculture Bureau provide guidance during the planning and hosting of the Anding District Sesame Industry and Culture Festival in order to promote the sesame industry. As a result of this event’s marketing and media attention given to the district’s sesame industry, the district office expects that the earnings of farmers will increase.