Taiwan Tries to Revive Its Banana Export Industry
September 17, 2013
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan — The problem with bananas, for the Taiwanese farmers who grow them, is that they are not pineapples.
Taiwan’s banana exports
have fallen sharply, and prices the farmers get have fallen, too. The
solution would seem simple: better marketing, as has been done for
almonds, raisins or pomegranates in the United States.
The Taiwan Banana Research Institute wants to make
the banana a luxury product. It hopes consumers will consider the
Pei-Chiao bananas, the Cavendish variety most often grown in Taiwan, a
delicacy for which they will pay a premium price. “Our goal is to
position Taiwanese bananas as a brand and appeal to consumers who are
willing to pay extra for fruit because it tastes better and was grown
using safer farming methods,” said Chao Chih-ping, director of the
institute.
But so far, the country’s efforts have fallen short.
Taiwan’s banana industry
needs to discover a hit product that will increase demand and raise
prices. Banana farmers look to the example of the pineapple cake, the
snack savior of Taiwan’s pineapple industry.
In 2006, the Taipei city
government began promoting the pastry as a souvenir of Taiwan, holding
annual baking competitions and marketing it to tourists. That year,
total revenue earned by Taiwan’s pineapple cake industry was 2 billion
Taiwan dollars, about $67 million, according to the Taipei Bakery
Association.
By 2012 revenue had grown
to 39 billion Taiwan dollars, driven by bakeries like SunnyHills, which
ships pineapple cakes to buyers in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and
Singapore.
“We hoped that banana cake
could be the next pineapple cake, but that hasn’t happened,” said Chuang
Lao-da, a director at the Council of Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food
Agency.
Taiwan’s surplus bananas have also been turned into chips, puddings and a domestically consumed liquor.
But so far, no hit. Wu
Pao-chun, a baker famous for winning international competitions like
France’s Coupe Louis Lesaffre, created his own version of banana bread
as a tribute to farmers.
Unlike the hearty American
version, which is made with mashed bananas, Mr. Wu’s recipe features
slices of fruit. Though many of Mr. Wu’s baked goods are sold online,
his banana bread cannot be shipped because the fruit will lose its
texture and flavor. It is available only at his Kaohsiung bakery, where
about 30 small loaves are baked each day and sold for 80 Taiwan dollars,
about $2.70 each.
“People in Asian countries
aren’t used to baked goods made with bananas. They have to become
accustomed to the flavor, which we hope to do by gradually promoting our
banana bread,” he said.
Mr. Chao thinks researchers
could extract tryptophan, an amino acid, from surplus bananas for use
as an antidepressant. Peels may be a source of antioxidants and fiber
can be harvested from stems and turned into textiles.
The American corn industry may be a better model for Taiwan’s banana farmers than pineapple cakes.
Most corn is turned into
ethanol, animal feed or high-fructose corn syrup, but it can also be
used in the manufacturing of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and textiles.
“We’re looking at products
like nutritional powder made from processed bananas, which is becoming
more popular in Japan as a health and weight-loss aid,” said Mr. Chuang,
the government agriculture official.
Lu Ming, a farmer, has
given up waiting for the banana’s ascendence. In 1967, Mr. Lu decided to
switch from farming rice to bananas. For two decades Mr. Lu, 76,
cultivated his banana trees in the Qishan district, rising at 5 a.m. and
working until sunset. He earned enough money to hire workers who helped
harvest the fruit and package it for shipment.
Farmers could not compete
with lower labor costs in the Philippines, however, and exports of
Taiwan bananas began to plunge. According to the Council of Agriculture
in Taiwan, banana exports to Japan, a major market, plummeted to 9,161
tons in 2012 from 42,600 tons in 1967.
By the early 1980s, Mr. Lu
could no longer afford laborers, and he and his wife began selling candy
from sidewalk stalls to make ends meet. Now Mr. Lu, who still farms and
works odd jobs, says there are years when his banana harvest earns less
than 100,000 Taiwan dollars — far below the average annual income in
Taiwan of 452,400 Taiwan dollars, about $15,200.
Businesses have sprung up
around the memories of the boom times. Once a warehouse for bananas
before they were loaded onto ships destined for Japan, the Banana Pier
in Kaohsiung is now a seaside entertainment complex. Banana New Paradise
in Taichung appeals to nostalgic diners by combining a restaurant with
an indoor re-creation of a 1960s Taiwan village.
The Qishan-based rock group
Youthbanana organizes tours and working holidays at nearby farms,
including the fields belonging to Mr. Lu.
He says he never wanted to stop cultivating bananas, even as it became less profitable.
“When I was younger, we’d
roast bananas like yams, feed the peels to pigs and use the leaves to
steam buns or fold them into toy boats for our children,” he said. “It
wasn’t just about growing and selling. It’s a culture that I want to
survive.”
台灣農民的香蕉夢
2013年09月17日
Sean Marc Lee for The International Herald Tribune
台灣一家倉庫里的香蕉。迄今為止，營銷舉措沒能增加出口量。
台灣高雄——對於台灣的蕉農來說，香蕉的問題在於它們不是菠蘿。
台灣的香蕉出口量急劇下降，蕉農們出售香蕉的價格也有所下降。解決辦法似乎非常簡單：採取更好的營銷策略，就像美國針對杏仁，葡萄乾或石榴採取的策略一樣。
台灣香蕉研究所希望使香蕉成為一種奢侈品。該研究所希望消
費者將北蕉——台灣最常種植的華蕉系品種——當做一種珍奇果品，從而願意為此支付較高價錢。研究所所長趙治平表示，「我們的目標是使台灣香蕉成為品牌，吸
引那些願意為味道更好、種植方法更安全的水果支付高價的消費者。」
但到目前為止，他們的努力還沒取得成功。
台灣的香蕉產業需要發現一種能夠增加需求，提高價格的熱門產品。蕉農希望以鳳梨酥為榜樣，這種糕點拯救了台灣的菠蘿產業。
2006年，台北市政府開始推廣鳳梨酥，使其成為台灣的一種地方特產，每年都舉行烘焙比賽，向遊客們推銷這種點心。據台北市糕餅商業同業公會透露，2006年，台灣鳳梨酥產業的總收入達到20億台幣（當時約合5億元人民幣）。
到2012年，在微熱山丘等糕點店的推動下，鳳梨酥產業的收益上漲至390億台幣，這些糕點店將鳳梨酥發往中國大陸、香港、日本及新加坡的買家。
農業委員會農糧署的一名組長庄老達說，「我們希望香蕉酥能成為下一個鳳梨酥，但這個願望沒有實現。」
剩餘的香蕉還被做成了香蕉片、布丁及一種在台灣銷售的酒。
但迄今為止，還沒有出現熱門產品。因贏得法國樂斯福杯麵包比賽(Coupe Louis Lesaffre)等國際競賽而聞名的烘焙師吳寶春研發了自己的香蕉麵包，以此向農民致敬。
和用香蕉泥製作、口味濃郁的美式香蕉麵包不同，吳寶春的香蕉麵包加了水果切片。雖然吳寶春的很多烘焙產品可以在網上購買，但這種香蕉麵包卻無法運送，因為水果的口感和味道會變差。只有在高雄的麵包店才能買到這種麵包，他們每天烘烤30個小香蕉麵包，每個售價80台幣。
吳寶春說，「亞洲國家的人不習慣食用以香蕉為原料的烘焙食物。他們需要習慣這樣的味道，我希望通過逐步推廣我們的香蕉品牌來使他們習慣。」
趙治平認為，科研人員可以從過剩的香蕉中提取一種名為「色氨酸」的氨基酸，用於抗抑鬱藥物。香蕉皮也許可以作抗氧化劑的原料，而香蕉梗則可以提供纖維，加工成紡織品。
比起鳳梨酥，美國玉米業或許為台灣蕉農提供了更好的示範。
目前，多數美國玉米加工成了乙醇、動物飼料或高果糖玉米糖漿，它還可以用於化妝品、藥物和紡織品生產。
「我們正在研究香蕉加工的營養粉等產品。在日本，這種健康和減肥輔助產品越來越流行，」農業官員庄老達說。
現年76歲的蕉農呂明對香蕉的興起已不抱希望。1967年，呂明決定放棄稻米，轉而種香蕉。他在旗山區潛心種植了20年香蕉樹，早上5點起床，一直勞作到太陽落山。那時，他收入不錯，雇了幾名幫工來收割香蕉並進行運輸前的包裝。
不過，台灣蕉農無法和勞動力成本更低的菲律賓競爭，香蕉出口開始直線下降。台灣行政院農業委員會的數據顯示，在台灣香蕉的主要市場日本，出口從1967年的4.26萬噸猛降至2012年的9161噸。
到了上世紀80年代初，呂明雇不起幫工了。為了維持生計，他和妻子開始擺路邊攤賣糖果。現如今，呂明依然在務農的同時做各種零工。他表示，香蕉收成的收入多年來都不到10萬新台幣，遠低於台灣的人均年收入45.24萬新台幣。
這裡湧現了各種回顧黃金歲月的懷舊生意。高雄香蕉碼頭曾是對日出口前的集貨倉庫，如今成為了海濱的綜合娛樂場所。台中的香蕉新樂園主打懷舊餐，將茶飯館融合到室內打造的上世紀60年代的台灣村莊街景中。
旗山的台青蕉搖滾樂團組織在附近的蕉園開展旅遊和勞作度假活動，場所包括呂明的蕉園。
呂明說，就算掙錢少了，他也從未想過不再種植香蕉。
「年輕點的時候，我們會烤香蕉，跟烤紅薯一樣，拿蕉皮餵豬，蕉葉蒸包或者折成玩具船給小孩玩，」他說。「這不止是種蕉賣蕉，而是一種我希望流傳下去的文化。」
翻譯：許欣、黃錚
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