It’s a countdown to the Spring Festival! Do you have your souvenir ready? On the 22nd, Hsinchu County Magistrate Yang Wen-ke, together with representatives of the Farmers’ Associations and elected representatives at all levels in Hsinchu’s 13 townships, hosted the opening ceremony of the “Hsinchu County Citrus Food Life Festival” in the plaza facing the county government. Purchasing delicious and juicy citrus grown in Hsinchu County over 5kg on Saturday and Sunday, one could draw prizes and have the opportunity to win a big prize.
Magistrate Yang Wen-ke said that citrus is the most widely distributed, highest-yielding, and most valuable agricultural produce in Hsinchu County. There is a variety of citrus, including ponkan, murcott, haili citrus, tankan, hutou citrus, honey bell citrus, and others. The total area for citrus all year round is approximately 2,264.3 hectares and the output is 41,907 metric tons. Yang said that Hsinchu County is Taiwan’s “hometown of citrus.” The weather is good this year, with the average sweetness of this year’s crop reaching a 13 or 14 on the sweetness scale.
Magistrate Yang said that in order to encourage purchase, the county government planned a series of promotional activities. If anyone bought more than 5kg of citrus, they’d get a lottery ticket and have the opportunity to win an iPhone 13, a Roomba, Bluetooth speakers, or other gifts. The more one purchased, the more likely one would win a big prize. Aside from the lottery, to welcome the coming of the 2022 Tiger Year, anyone whose ID has the number 2 or friends who were born in the year of the tiger could also participate in the cash grabbing game to get prizes and bring home citruses of bliss.
Fan Wan-chao, the Director of the Agriculture Department, pointed out that in addition to citrus purchasing, 12 Farmers’ Associations in the county also displayed and sold agricultural products. For example, the Zhubei City Farmers Association, under the slogan “black beans are a necessity for anyone in the workforce”, focuses on the creative series products of black beans. It also set up a pop-up shop to exhibit and sell their “black beans mascot” for two days, which brought a lot of attention. The Emei Township Farmers’ Association had a theme of “Big Citrus for A Year of Great Harvest.” The Hengshan Farmers’ Association decorated its stand with the theme of “Citrus’ One Hundred Possibilities”. The festival also provides consumers with more buying options before the Lunar New Year, including minty Chinese mesona from Guanxi Township, tomatoes from Qionglin township, sweet potatoes from the Zhudong area, and other special agricultural products from around Hsinchu County.