Madou pomelos sale poor due to drop in Chinese orders / 大陸訂單銳減9成 麻豆文旦恐滯銷　　　　　　　　　　

Due to severe weather last year, the cost of pomelo slightly rose this year and directly reflected on its own price, and subjected by the policy from China, export orders significantly dropped by 90%. As Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon in September, Madou Farmer Association said feeling stressful to sell them all before this fall holiday. One more week until the pomelo harvest in this orchard, but the farmers don't seem happy about this abundant harvest, because export orders to China dropped dramatically by 90 %. Exports used to amount to 100-120 containers. Farmers attribute the drop in orders to the side effects of Chinese policy to Taiwan. ==LI YU-XIAN, Madou Farmer Association Director== This is a problem due to Chinese policy. The examination of our fruits is very strict now, so our exports decreased by 4-5 tones, around 4 containers. Even so, the Association said the drop in pomelo exports did not have too serious effect as exports to China did not account for too much of their total income. The quality of pomelos remained high with juicy perfect looking fruit with certified acceptable levels of pesticides. ==MR. YU, Madou pomelo farmer== If we use pesticides, we follow the instructions to use regulated amounts of acceptable pesticides. ( Is that safer?) Right, safe use of pesticides. ==LI YU-XIAN, Madou Farmer Association Director == (what if they fail to sell ?) We will be under pressure. But there are 100 years of pomelo history, good quality and it is organically grown. Due to the severe cold weather last year, pomelo production decreased to 3.8 thousand tones, causing rising prices at NT$80-120 per Taiwan catty. Fortunately, farmers are still confident they will sell all their pomelos before the Mid-Autumn Festival. TRANSLATED BY：MERVYN KWAN 農民在文旦園一邊巡一邊看，一點都不馬虎，因為麻豆文旦再過一個禮拜就可以正式採收，但是今年卻傳來不好消息，就是外銷大陸訂單不如預期，往年外銷大陸至少有100個貨櫃、120公噸，但今年大陸訂單卻銳減九成，農民猜測應該跟大陸政策有關。 ==麻豆農會總幹事 李育賢== 大陸政策問題啦 所以對我們水果檢驗比較嚴格一點 所以我們外銷數量少 所以到現在差不多有聽到 大概4到5噸而已 差不多四個貨櫃 沒有很多 雖然說文旦外銷大陸受阻，但農會表示，外銷大陸占總銷量不多，因此影響不會太大，而且麻豆文旦還是維持一定水準，不只外型漂亮口感佳，也有農藥檢測合格證明。 ==麻豆柚農 余先生== 如果噴藥 都是遵照 毒物試驗所規定用藥 （這樣比較安全)對 安全用藥啦 ==麻豆農會總幹事 李育賢== （賣不完怎辦)有壓力 但麻豆文旦是有一百年歷史 它有它的歷史典故 包括品質 包括整個農民的栽培方式 全部都是有機的在栽培 受到寒害影響，往年麻豆文旦一年都產4000公噸，今年只剩下3800公噸左右，因此價格也小漲，去年每台斤約70至100元，今年估計約80至120元，雖說如此，麻豆柚農依舊信心滿滿，期盼中秋節前能夠順利賣完。 記者 溫正衡 台南報導