The popular documentary Beyond Beauty – Taiwan from Above has highlighted the problem of excess farming of betel nut trees.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah said on Friday that the government has come up with a plan to help farmers begin planting camellias instead of betel nut trees.
The goal is to reduce the area of farm land used for betel nut trees by over 100 million square meters in four years. Government spokesman Sun Lih-chyun explains.
"Camellias would be a very suitable crop to replace betel nuts," said Sun. "The premier has asked the agricultural council to look into other economic options so not everyone turns to just growing camellias. But the current estimate is that within four years, [the change to camellias] will give farmers an additional 500 million NT dollars in income."
For the first three years, the government would subsidize farmers NT$50,000 (about US$ 1,600) for every 10,000 square meters of camellias.
The change is expected to help lower the high rate of oral cancer in Taiwan and bring more locally grown healthy oil to the market. Camellia oil is also an excellent antioxidant.