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Paddy Rice
Paddy rice is the most important crop of this region, with paddy fields reaching an area of 3,500 hectares, making this region one of the foremost rice granaries in Taiwan. The soil here is clay-based, and the quality water drawn from Zengwen Reservoir and Wushantou Reservoir in Tainan has contributed to the harvest of chewy, delicious and tasty rice. The ‘Hounong Rice’ and ‘Lilan Rice’ from the Farmers’ Association, and the ‘Shanshui Rice’ and ‘Dream Beauty Rice’ from the Liaofa Rice Mill have dominated the rice market as ‘Houbi Quality Rice.’
District farmer Huang Kun-bin’s (Uncle Kun-bin) ‘Tainan No. 71 (Yi-Quan-Xiang Rice)’ won the national special rice cultivation contest in 2006.
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Guava
Guava is the most famous agricultural product in Houbi District and it is mainly cultivated in the Anxiliao area, where there is also a pomegranate production and marketing team. The main guava species in Anxiliao are Pearl Guava and Crystal Guava. |
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Melon
The agriculture of this area consists of paddy rice, sugar cane and crops. In recent years, the shift of agricultural model has gradually replaced sugar cane and crops with melon and watermelon. The melons grown in this region are very sweet and large, with fine flesh and a full flavor. |
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Orchid Propagation Center
In 1987, the Taiwan Sugar Corporation’s Xinying Plant established the Taiwan Sugar Corporation Orchid Propagation Center (TSCOPC) at the abandoned Wushuli Sugar Plant, to specialize in the cultivation of orchids. Now the Wushulin Orchid Propagation Center has become the largest orchid plantation for Taiwan Sugar, and TSC phalaenopsis has earned the recognition of international markets. The main operation of the Wushulin Orchid Propagation Center is the export of Orchid Propagation Center seedlings, which not only fulfill the domestic market demand but are also exported to the United States, Japan and Europe. |
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Taiwan Orchid Plantation
Taiwan Orchid Planation is located in the former Wushulin Sugar Plant Shuan Farm, leased by the former Tainan County Government from the Taiwan Sugar Corporation. The Council of Agricultural Affairs approved the planation infrastructure project as a ‘Local Agricultural and Biotech Park’ with a projected investment of NT$206 million in infrastructure. The project is divided into six phases and was projected to be completed by 2008. Currently, the public facilities already completed include an operating service center, eco-friendly energy center, production demonstration greenhouse, international flower exhibition center and landscape project. The operating service center has been open for use since December 21, 2004, while the former County Government Teams have now mostly stationed themselves here and are open for business.
Moreover, the former Tainan County Government holds international orchid exhibitions in the plantation. In particular, the ‘2005 International Orchid Exhibition’ and ‘2006 International Orchid Exhibition’ not only hit record highs in terms of the number of visitors but also successfully built up international visibility for this event. Experts are also invited to the international orchid exhibitions to carefully appraise the orchids, driving the orchid industries to constantly develop cultivation technology in order to boost production capabilities and quality.
After Tainan County merged with Tainan City to form a municipality in 2011, the first International Orchid Fair was held at the Houbi District Taiwan Orchid Plantation from early to mid March. With the full support of the City Government for the orchid fair, Houbi District has become a center for international orchid fairs, and each year the fair attracts more than 320,000 tourists to visit the planation, with more than 3,000 foreign visitors from 32 countries, and orders have even reached a record high of NT5.5 billion in one day. |