A hot product
Sesame seeds come in main two varieties: white and black. Oil pressed from the white variety is referred to as xiangyou (“fragrant oil”) in Mandarin, while the oil pressed from the black variety is called mayou (“sesame oil”). All of the white sesame consumed in Taiwan is imported. And while Taiwan does grow black sesame, domestic demand far outstrips local production.
You Tian-long, director of the Puzi Branch of the Tainan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, says that in 1961 Taiwan cultivated 8,845 hectares of sesame, which yielded 4,501 metric tons of sesame seeds. The amount of sesame cultivation has fallen greatly since then, with rising production costs leading farmers to switch to other crops. Nowadays, Taiwan has only 831 hectares in sesame, and the harvest is down to just 620 tons, well short of the more than 30,000 tons the island consumes.
In 2012, the government began amending its fallow-fields subsidies to nudge Taiwan towards greater self-sufficiency in food production. To that end, it has encouraged farmers to grow more of the crops that Taiwan imports in large volumes, including sesame.
Tainan is Taiwan’s primary sesame growing area. According to the Tainan City Agriculture Bureau, Shanhua, Xigang and Anding together have 709 hectares of land in sesame and produced 553 tons of seeds in 2015, which was about 85% of Taiwan’s total sesame production.
The fertile soil of Anding, located along the banks of the Zengwen River near Tainan City’s Shanhua and Annan Districts, has made it Taiwan’s principal sesame growing area.
Wang Pao-ming, general manager of the Anding District Farmers’ Association, says that government incentives have led to a steady increase in Anding’s sesame acreage to more than 200 hectares over the last few years. Offering this year as an example, he says that his association already has more than 100 farmers registered for its fall sesame harvest event. These farmers collectively have some 30 hectares in sesame and are expected to produce a total of around 29,000 kilograms of seeds.
Consumers trust sesame oil certified as “authentic” by local agricultural associations because such oils are locally produced from locally grown ingredients, with strict oversight throughout the process.
Wang says that consumers have proved willing to pay a significant premium for authentic Taiwanese sesame, which costs three times more than imported sesame oils. “Business has been so good over the last couple of years that we don’t have any oil left to sell,” laughs Wang.
Tainan’s Anding District is Taiwan’s sesame heartland. In the photo, farmers dry seeds in the courtyard of their home. (courtesy of Anding District Farmers’ Association)