HAKKA PARK SHOWCASES THE LAST OF THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY|見證末代菸葉 燻菸體驗了解產業文化

The Taiwan Tobacco Liquor Corporation will stop buying tobacco leaves in March. Thus recently harvested tobacco leaves may be the last batch ever grown by farmers on the island. To showcase the history of Taiwan's tobacco industry, a Hakka Park in Pingtung set up a tobacco drying building for people to experience tobacco drying and processing, and learn about the industry's development over the years. Folded tobacco leaves are hung in the processing plants, all pushed in as tight as possible. They are to be dried by smoke for 10 days hung upside down. In the early days, tobacco processing plants did not have computer thermostats and whole families of tobacco farmers maintained a 24 hour watch in shifts. ==TOBACCO FARMER== You had to watch the process around the clock and couldn't go to bed at night. Moreover, you had to keep feeding firewood to the furnace. And the firewood had to be chopped into smaller pieces so that they fit into the furnace. Touching the just-harvested leaves and smelling the scent of smoke, experiencing the processing, students really understand the hard work put in by tobacco farmers and the part of Taiwan's history that tobacco farmers formed. ==MS. LIN Academic== You can feel that growing tobacco is really hard work and they are all quite old. ==MR. CHEN Academic== We should conserve this for children or just the public to know the difficult side of life as a tobacco farmer ==MS. TSENG Academic== This is a really valuable experience of this million dollar industry. The organizers hope that this experience will help the public to understand the tobacco farming industry and the part it plays in Hakka culture. At the same time this is a witness to the work of tobacco processing plants and the rise and fall of tobacco in Taiwan agriculture. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 台灣菸酒公司 將於3月份停止菸葉契作 因此最近所採收的菸葉 很可能是菸農所種的最後一批 為了讓民眾了解 台灣菸葉的歷史 屏東六堆客家文化園區 就在高樹鄉舊寮村的一座菸樓 舉辦體驗活動 現地觀察菸農燻菸分級的流程 將夾好的菸葉抬進菸樓裡 眾人齊力把菸葉推到最緊實 再來就是10天的燻菸過程 早年菸樓還沒有 電腦恆溫控制系統時 菸農全家人 必須24小時輪班看守 晚上也不能休息 不能休息要做什麼 鋸木材還有劈材 那樹頭要劈開 你的爐灶才能放進去 摸摸剛採下的菸葉 聞聞已燻乾的菸葉 體驗過菸農採菸 燻菸的過程 學員才真正體會 菸農工作的辛苦 也格外珍惜由菸農 所寫下的台灣菸葉史 ==學員 林女士== 感覺他們種菸葉 真的很辛苦 全部都年紀很大了 ==學員 陳先生== 保留部分讓小朋友 或是我們一般民眾可以知道說 這菸農的一個生活的辛苦的一面 這樣子 ==學員 鄧女士== 我覺得這個是千金難買的經驗 非常好 主辦單位表示 希望藉由燻菸體驗活動 讓民眾了解種菸產業 與客家文化緊密依存的程度 同時也共同見證 菸樓生活的形態 與台灣菸葉的起落興衰