Q:Why
is it called “Dream Beauty”? |
A:“Dream
Beauty” is the Chinese name of “Yume Ka Ori”but“Yume Ka Ori”
and “Dream Beauty” do not have the same meaning. At first,
Lian-Fa and Nakashimamio Chairman Chen Shui Sheng thought of
“Dream Moon Rice” as the Chinese name for “Yume Ka Ori”but
Nakashimamio Shoutenn believed that since “Dream Moon Rice”
had already been registered by Lian-Fa, it was the patent
right of Lian-Fa and problems related to sales might arise
later on so Nakashimamio Shoutenn did not agree to the
naming. Finally, “Dream Beauty” proposed by Nakashimamio
Shoutenn was used as the trademark in Taiwan. As for Japan,
“Taiwan Rice” is imprinted on rice packages. It is the only
rice product that has such specifications.
Q:Why
is “Dream Beauty” selected for planting? |
A:According
to Chairman Chen Shui Sheng as he was told, “Yume Ka Ori” is
an old variety and is not considered high priced rice in
Japan. However, Nakashimamio Shoutenn believed this type of
rice to be ideal for Taiwan’s climatic conditions. In terms
of commercial benefit, it is understandable why Nakashimamio
Shoutenn was not willing to sell new Japanese rice variety
to foreign countries at once because Japanese rice produced
overseas is bound to be cheaper than locally produced rice.
Once it is re-sold back in Japan, local rice will not be
able to compete against it. It is like allowing 8-inch wafer
to be produced in China and restricting 12-inch wafer to be
manufactured there. It is as simple as that.
Q:How
many hectares is the “Dream Beauty” production area?
What restrictions are there for those rice fields?
What testing are conducted? |
A:The
“Dream Beauty” special production area measures 52 hectares
and is divided into three major sub-areas. The rice fields
have to adjacent to each other. There should be access to
Chia-Nan River Irrigation Channels and they should not be
close to roads. In terms of operation, large area production
mode is adopted including uniform production material
purchase, uniform seedling growing, seedling transplanting,
blight prevention, and harvest. Contrary to traditional
small area tillage, it not only reduces production costs,
but also enhances efficiency.
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Dream Beauty production and sales
special area signboard setup |
Special area class leaders and
Lian-Fa at a meeting |
In addition, contract rice
fields have to undergo soil and irrigation water source
heavy metal testing. Soil sample is collected from every
rice field unit of each class mixed into one (8 samples for
8 classes). Irrigation water sample is collected from Chia-Nan
River. These two types of samples are tested by Agricultural
Research and Extension Station, Council of Agriculture,
Executive Yuan and Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic
Substances Research Institute, Council of Agriculture. Test
results show that the numerical values of soil and
irrigation water are far lower than the allowable standards
regulated by Environmental Protection Administration,
Executive Yuan proving they are high quality rice fields.
Heavy metal content of
Dream Beauty contract rice filed soil and irrigation water
samples
Extracted from Jiang
Ru-Guo, “Houbi Town Rice Dream Beauty Production and Sales
Guidance”,
Tainan Agricultural
Research & Extension Station, COA.
Q:Which
departments offer assistance? |
A:In
terms of production and sales of “ Dream Beauty”, other than
Nakashimamio Shoutenn from Japan, Tainan Branch of Food and
Agriculture Agency, Tainan District Agricultural Research &
Extension Station, COA, and the County Government have all
sent people to provision guidance. Food and Agriculture
Agency was in charge of international production and sales
integration while Nakashimamio Shoutenn offered Japanese
rice cultivation technique sharing and sales approaches back
in Japan. Agricultural Research & Extension Station, COA was
in charge of production technical assistance, and record
regulation operation procedures in Japan. The Tainan County
Government was responsible for propaganda related services.
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Chiayi Branch
Chief Lin Guo-Chin
and Assistant
Researcher Jiang
Ru-Guo of Agricultural
Research
& Extension Station, COA
inspecting Rice Blast prevention |
Technician
Takiichirou of
Nakashimamio Shoutenn
stationed
in America inspecting rough
rice/paddy |
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|
Rice field
technical supervisor
Segawasakahikoi
inspecting rice
fields in
Japan |
Nakashimamio
Shoutenn Business
Dept. head
stationed in Taiwan
inspecting rice fields |
Q:What
things should peasants abide by? |
A:
For production and sales classes of “Dream Beauty”, Lian-Fa
proposed price production and offered total purchase and
acquisition. Rice growers are not pressured to reach certain
production volume. However, they are asked to abide by
Agricultural Research & Extension Station, COA setup
production records during cultivation. Prior to production,
Nakashimamio Shoutenn representative clearly expressed to
the preparatory committee regarding the importance of
production records. Therefore, Tainan Agricultural Research
& Extension Station, COA referred to the features of “Dream
Beauty” and production record regulations of both nations to
formulate a production record for “Dream Beauty.” This set
of production record has detailed specifications for stem
interval during seedling transplant, fertilizer type, and
usage, blight prevention time, and chemical usage. Peasants
should abide by this set of standard operation procedure
from seedling growing, land preparation, seedling
transplanting, irrigation, blight prevention, to harvest.
Furthermore, peasants should attend orientations prior to
production and seminars during respective stages of
production in order to understand the tips to rice
cultivation at each stage.
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Contract rice
growers are obliged to
attend
seminars |
Report
summary at the seminar
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Japanese rice
field Techinical
supervisor Segawasakahiko
giving a lecture |
South District
Head Chen Jing-Yu
of Food and
Agriculture Agency
at the seminar |
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