In the past six weeks, Taiwan has recorded agricultural losses of nearly NT$600 million (€17.2 million) due to warmer than usual winter temperatures. According to figures released by the Council of Agriculture (COA) Wednesday, the region of Kaohsiung is the hardest hit. The period from Jan. 23 to March 6, showed unseasonably dry, warm weather.
In southern Taiwan, the losses in Kaohsiung's agricultural sector totaled NT$98.39 million (€2.8 million), with an area of 2,253.65 hectares of farmland being affected.
The most heavily affected crop was litchi, with farmers seeing losses of NT$78.80 million across 1,566 hectares. Other fruit crops, including plums, peaches, longan and mangoes, also suffered as a result of the weather, across some 687 hectares, the data showed.
In Hengchun in Pingtung County, the main onion-growing region in Taiwan, farmers reaped smaller onions due to the weather and lost about NT$54 million, with the affected area totaling 213 hectares, which was 35 percent of the county's total onion crop, according to statistics from the county government.
