Fenyuan Township in Changhua County, nestled against Bagua Mountain, has over 400 hectares of its 1,800 hectares of arable land planted with lychees, making it a major lychee-producing area in Taiwan. Every summer, the branches of Black Leaf and Nuomici Lychee trees are bearing with fruits, creating a striking scene in this rustic countryside. The lychee is sweet but fragile. The short two-week summer harvest season forces farmers to work day and night. They also endure the selling pressure of "lychees' color changes in a day, aroma in two days, and flavor in three days." The fluctuating prices further jeopardize the farmers' hard work.

Mrs. Yang Huang, Mei-chun, also been called "A-Chun", whose family has been growing lychee for generations, know best the helplessness of the lychee farmers. She recalled that "In the past, many farmers asked me how them to do with those over-harvesting lychees? I didn't want to waste those fruits and trying to find a way." Therefore, she consulted to the Taichung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, Agricultural Council (Now is the Ministry of Agriculture), trying to produce Dried Lychees. Through repeated failures and adjustments, she finally hands the 5-days of 50 ~60 degree's high-roasting technique to make the Dried Lychees contained the whole shapes and sweetness. It not only prolongs lychees' preservation period and increases the value, even goes to the world's stage.

In 2010, Bakery Master Mr. Wu Bao-chun used the Dried Lychees produced by Mrs. A-Chun to make the Millet Wine with Dried Lychee & Rose Petal Bread (Taiwan Litchi Rose Champion Bread), winning the Les Masters de la Boulangerie (Bakery Master Competition). This not only made Fenyuan Township famed but also realized Mrs. A-Chun that the value of lychee could be seen; Therefore, in 2011, she established the "Three Treasures Vegetable and Fruit Production Cooperative," which implemented a contract-farming mechanism with more than 30 farmers in Dexing Community to sell agricultural products centrally, ensuring that farmers' livelihoods were not affected by unsold produce.

The MEPP Partners Bring New Energy to the Cooperative
The Cooperative's core businesses are lychee buying and selling, focusing on sustainable farming and reducing chemical pesticides. Mrs. A-Chun stated, "My husband passed away due to prolonged exposure to pesticides, which motivated me to plan for healthy food to ensure everyone's safety." To make your lychees more marketable, you must sell them as well as grow them. During the harvest season, the Cooperative helps the farmers to deliver lychees to the Taipei Hope Plaza Farmers Market for sale. It also explores the selling channels through Facebook, Instagram, markets, and telephone ordering. Those efforts rely on the manpower subsidized by the Multi-Employment Promotion Program of the Ministry of Labor, which supports the Cooperative with more staff for sales and promotion.

Currently, in addition to its full-time employees, the Cooperative hires more than 10 temporary workers during the busy farming season, most of whom are members or local farmers. From fruit picking to packing, everyone divides the jobs and works together. "This allowed the Cooperative to earn money, and everyone has an income, which is truly the mutual benefit."

It's worth noting that the Cooperative has three young members with diverse expertise: one handles lychee cultivation and management, one manages chicken farming, and one oversees correspondence and administration. Marketing specialist Mr. Lin Zheng-wei is one of them, having joined through the "Multi-Employment Promotion Program." He has now become an indispensable partner of the Cooperative. "In the past, selling agri-products was simply setting up a table and then putting the products on it. After I joined, I started helping with copywriting, building sales websites, and even trying out online ordering." His involvement has expanded the Cooperative's sales channels beyond the traditional ones.

Process Innovation Enhances Product Added Value
In addition, the Cooperative provides drying machines and refrigeration equipment to assist farmers in transferring fresh lychees into dried lychees. This can prolong one year of the preservation date and increase sales flexibility. At the same time, the Cooperative actively researches products like lychee sausage, lychee vinegar, and lychee cakes, etc., and plans rural short trips, letting the tourists walk into the orchard and experience the real "FARM-TO-TABLE" process. These diverse efforts have increased the added value of the products and given farmers more confidence in the future.

However, except for the challenges from the market, the threats from insect pests also jeopardize the farmers' livelihoods. There was one year that a large outbreak of Lychee Stink Bugs caused poor harvests in many orchards, but Mrs. A-Chun's lychee orchard maintained a relatively stable yield. The secret was "raising chickens under the lychee trees." —chickens that roamed under the lychee trees would eat the Lychee Stink Bug larvae, reduce pests and diseases, and protect the lychee harvest.

Compared with lychee, which has one harvest a year and fluctuating prices, chickens can be raised daily for a stable income. Therefore, the Cooperative promotes "raising chickens under lychee trees," the kind of "one land in multiple uses" method, and hosts special briefings to encourage the farmers to learn how to raise chickens. The chicken manure can also be sent to the Ginger Garden Development Association in Miaoli as fertilizer in exchange for fresh ginger for community meals. This cooperative model also aligns with the current trend of "circular economy".

Promoting the Agri-food Education, Helping Children Learn About Their Homeland
Over the past 2 years, the Cooperative has more actively promoted Agri-food Education. It takes children walking into the orchard to observe how lychees mature from flower to fruit and learn the difference between male and female chickens. "Children can't learn that knowledge in their classroom; they just realize it after coming here." The Cooperative has also offered Agri-food courses at nearby elementary schools, including Baoshan, Fenyuan, Tongan, and Kuaiguan, and has shared its experience in community activities. In the future, they hope to add project staff through the "Multi-Employment Promotion Program," making Agri-food Education systematic and enabling more people to know the story of lychee and land through comprehensive teaching materials, lesson plans, and rural short trips.

Mrs. A-Chun was the old village's chief, and as the chairman of the Community Development Association for years, she devoted herself to the local affairs for a long period. The Cooperative not only finds a new way for lychee farmers but also preserves lychee's sweetness and even integrates the power of the communities, continuously guarding the rural humanity and hope in different ways.
Official Facebook Page of Three Treasures Vegetable and Fruit Production Cooperative

▲The Cooperative actively develops products such as lychee vinegar and lychee cakes and plans rural short trips, enhancing its product values through various measures.

▲"The fresh lychee's color changes in a day, aroma in two days, and flavor in three days." However, once it transforms to dried lychee, the expiration date can be extended to one year, increasing the product price and sales flexibility.

▲Mrs. A-Chun concerned about the lychee farmer's conflict. Through repeated failures and adjustments, she finally produced the dried lychees that contained the whole shapes and sweetness and were used by bakery master Mr. Wu Bao-chun to make Fenyuan Township famous.

▲Mrs. Huang Mei-chun, the Chairman of Three Treasures Vegetable and Fruit Production Cooperative: I had nothing before, but now I can live by planting lychee and raising chickens. You can live well in a rural township only if you are willing to learn.
 

Case story: Multi-Employment Promotion Program
Interviewee: Three Treasures Vegetable and Fruit Production Cooperative

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