Kaohsiung Elevates Food and Agriculture Education to New Heights, Ensuring Food Safety and Farmer Well-being for a Sustainable Agricultural City

The Kaohsiung City Government is deepening its commitment to food and agriculture education and sustainable agricultural development. For the first time, it has brought both the 'Mass Spectrometry Express' pesticide rapid screening service and the 'Farmer Occupational Injury and Health Checkup Mobile Unit' to the mountainous Jiaxian area, safeguarding both agricultural product safety and farmers' health. By integrating resources across departments—including education, health, environmental protection, culture, and tourism—the city is comprehensively advancing food and agriculture education to build a sustainable agricultural city that ensures both food safety and occupational safety.

Coinciding with the Moso bamboo shoot harvest season in Jiaxian, the Kaohsiung Agriculture Bureau, in collaboration with the Agricultural and Food Agency, National Chiayi University, and the Jiaxian Farmers' Association, has set up a 'Mass Spectrometry Express' mobile service station at the Jiaxian Farmers' Association. This station offers rapid pesticide residue testing and plant medical consultations to help farmers improve production management and enhance consumer confidence in Kaohsiung's agricultural products.

Farmers can bring one catty (approximately 600 grams) of produce to the Jiaxian Farmers' Association for free testing from July 10 to 19. The rapid screening covers multiple pesticide residues, and plant doctors provide advice on pest and disease control, helping to improve product quality and market competitiveness.

In addition to ensuring food safety, the Agriculture Bureau has, for the first time, deployed the 'Farmer Occupational Injury and Health Checkup Mobile Unit' to Jiaxian. The mobile unit offers health screenings including HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin), the 'three highs' (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia), chest X-rays, and cancer screenings. This initiative has attracted enthusiastic participation from farmers in mountainous areas such as Jiaxian and Taoyuan, enabling rural farmers to access medical services locally without long-distance travel.

Meanwhile, the Kaohsiung City Government convened a Food and Agriculture Education Promotion Meeting to review progress and further integrate resources across departments—including agriculture, education, health, environmental protection, culture, tourism, and international exchange—to deepen the 'Kaohsiung City Food and Agriculture Education Promotion Plan'.

To date, the city has developed 79 sets of food and agriculture education teaching materials. Farmers are invited into schools to teach, allowing students to learn about agriculture and food culture from the source. The Health Bureau promotes healthy eating, the Education Bureau advances school-based特色 courses, and the Environmental Protection Bureau advocates food waste reduction and low-carbon diets. The Cultural Affairs Bureau, Hakka Affairs Committee, and Indigenous Peoples Commission are preserving local food culture through reading, cultural experiences, and traditional cuisine.

Additionally, the Tourism Bureau has integrated food and agriculture education into tourism itineraries, guiding visitors to rural villages, fishing harbors, and specialty production areas. In recent years, the Agriculture Bureau has successfully facilitated the inclusion of Kaohsiung pineapples in school lunches in Hachioji City, Japan, combining educational materials to promote food and agriculture education and deepen international exchange.

The Kaohsiung City Government stated that it will continue to promote food and agriculture policies through cross-departmental collaboration, covering agricultural product safety, production environments, health care, and dietary education. The goal is to make 'understanding food, making informed choices, valuing food, and supporting local' an integral part of citizens' daily lives, while enhancing Kaohsiung's food and agriculture education capabilities to build a healthy, sustainable, and locally distinctive food and agriculture city.

The second meeting of the second session of the Kaohsiung City Food and Agriculture Education Promotion Committee was chaired by Deputy Secretary-General Wang Hong-Rong of the Kaohsiung City Government. (Photo provided by the Kaohsiung Agriculture Bureau)