Pingtung County’s Mudan Township Office received approval from by the National Development Council to conduct local regeneration projects running from 2020 to 2024. With support of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency (Ministry of Agriculture), and professional assistance from the NPUST Forestry Department’s Community Forestry Center, they are promoting local creative development under the theme of under-forest economies. These economic activities, which include under-forest chicken raising, mushroom cultivation, and beekeeping in the tribal mountain villages, have received enthusiastic responses and investments from villagers and are becoming an emerging featured industry in Mudan Township. Branch Director Jui-Fen Yang and Section Chief Hsien-Pin Hsu of the Pingtung Branch of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency were joined by NPUST Vice-President Weng-Ling Shih, Department of Forestry Director Yu-ting Wu, Forestry Professor Mei-Hui Chen, and Mudan Township Mayor Chuang-Chih at 10 a.m. on November 27 (2024) to publish the project results and hold a plaque unveiling for the Domestic Timber Workshop and Forest Biomass Energy Recycling Site in Dongyuan Village, Mudan Township. The event, which began with a traditional song performance by the Mudan Ancient Folksong Class, was attended by more than 90 local community partners, making for a lively scene.
With the funding from the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency (Ministry of Agriculture) and professional consultation and guidance from National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST), local residents have been participating in the 2023~2024 local creation project designed to upgrade the under-forest economic activities while also promoting the construction of “Domestic Timber Workshop” and “Mudan Township Forestry Materials Gasification Power Generation System”—thus becoming the first township-level forest biomass energy recycling site in the country.
When explaining the results of the project, Professor Mei-Hui Chen from NPUST said “the under-forest economies currently being promoted in Mudan Township include shiitake mushrooms cultivation, beekeeping, and tribal forest chicken raising. However, while developing friendly agriculture, in order to develop in a sustainable manner, we must increase the output value of eco-tourism. Under the Mudan Township Local Creation Project 2.0, the Domestic Timber Workshop approved the establishment of an environmental education site. In addition to agricultural production, it will also serve as an important place for educational activities. Hopes are that in the future, a series of products can be put together to serve as the featured area of development for tribal culture and that it can become an important base for cultivating a new generation of under-forest talent”.
