National Chiayi University

　　National Chiayi University and MUJI (Taiwan) Co., Ltd. signed a cooperation memorandum on the morning of June 24th. The ceremony was attended by NCYU President Han Chien Lin, Vice President Hung-Wen Lee, College of Agriculture Dean Shen Rong-Show, and Office for Academia-Industry Collaboration, Continuing Education Director Wu Rui-De, and other faculty members. It was also attended by MUJI Taiwan General Manager Akihiro Yoshida, Operating and Marketing Director Xu Heng-Qi, Public Relations Office Director Huang Jing-Yun, and their team members. Chen Rong-Kun, Director of the Chiayi branch of the Tainan District Agricultural Improvement Station, and Chen Jian-Wei, General Manager of Taiwan Safety Grain Store, also attended the grand event. Through the cooperation, NCYU and MUJI Taiwan hoped to jointly promote friendly farming and environmental sustainability, protecting the land of Taiwan via specific actions. 　　NCYU President Han Chien Lin said that the century-old university was founded on agricultural studies, and rice is the foundation of agriculture, and the staple food for Taiwanese. As extreme weather has led to frequent droughts in recent years, Taiwan was hit by the most severe drought in a century last year (2021). The water shortage crisis caused great inconvenience to our daily lives, and threatened the livelihood of farmers. The food security in Taiwan, where there were nearly 100,000 hectares of fallow or unharvested lands, has been greatly affected. This highlights the urgency and necessity of developing drought-tolerant crops. The teachers of the NCYU Department of Agronomy have been collaborating closely with the Tainan District Agricultural Improvement Station since 2009. After nine years, they have cultivated three high-quality and drought-resistant rice varieties: “NCYU Tainan No. 1,” “NCYU Tainan No. 2” and “NCYU Tainan Glutinous Rice No. 3.” They marked the first time for new rice varieties in Taiwan to be co-branded by an agricultural testing and improvement farm and a university. It is noteworthy that the research results, presented in last November, have been widely well-received. 　　According to Prof. Wen-Lii Huang of the NCYU Department of Agronomy, “NCYU Tainan No. 1”, “NCYU Tainan No. 2” and “NCYU Tainan Glutinous Rice No. 3” were successfully developed thanks to funding from the Agriculture and Food Agency, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan. If the highly drought-resistant rice varieties are to be planted across Taiwan, it is estimated that an amount of water equalling about 400 times the storage capacity of Lantan Reservoir can be saved in one year. This is regarded as an effective way to control water resources in Taiwan, which suffers from water shortages and drought from time to time. Among them, results of the instrumental analysis showed that the NCYU Tainan No. 1, also called “Chia-Nan Fragrance,” contains a jasmine ingredient that gives off a unique fragrant aroma, which characterizes itself from the more common taro fragrant rice. 　　MUJI, committed to the corporate motto of “making a difference,” is now engaged in collaboration with NCYU, a century-old renowned educational institution in the Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan region. To support “eco-friendly farming,” they will work with NCYU to develop new products based on the “Chia-Nan Fragrance” variety. In cooperation with the Department of Marketing and Tourism Management, NCYU, they will develop new products with the image of “Chiayi’s specialty products,” scheduled to be sold exclusively in designated stores in the second half of the year. They invite the public to taste the local delicacies, and join efforts to take actions to support the high-quality, eco-friendly, water-saving ingredients.