Cheng-Shiu University " KALAVUNG Manor Project" Attaches Social Responsibilities to Promote Rural Agricultural Products

Kao Chan-hung, a well-known domestic weightlifter, who is now actively preparing for the Olympics next year, recalls how he was able to receive professional training with peace of mind in recent years, then achieving excellent results in important international weightlifting events. He sincerely thanks the President of Cheng-Shiu University, Kung Jui-Chang, Professor Fang Li-sing, Professor Chuang Wen-Dian, and every teacher who had guided and helped him.

On the eve of the Taipei 2017 29th Summer Universiade, Kao Chan-hung, a second-year graduate student at Department of Leisure and Sport Management, Cheng-Shiu University at the time, who studying in graduate school and receiving pre-match training, was very worried about the mangoes planted by his parents in his hometown. As a typhoon was approaching southern Taiwan at that time, if the hometown was directly hit by the typhoon, his parents' hard work for a whole year might be ruined, the family's economic crisis would immediately appear, external transportation to be interrupted, and the mango sales may be lost. At that time, Kao had mixed feelings and could only pray continuously for the safety and health of his family, leaving the rest to God.

Kao is a young Bununese. His home is located in the Taoyuan District of Kaohsiung City, about a two-hour drive from downtown Kaohsiung. It is a remote village in Kaohsiung City. Gao’s parents, his family members and fellow people have been growing various crops on the mountains for a long time, such as mangoes, red plums, aiyu, plums, and so on. Because Taoyuan District is located in a mountainous area, it suffers from wind and flood damages every year; the roads on the site are often damaged. When typhoons are approaching, the farmers have to rush to harvest crops. They have to risk their lives heading gusts of wind and torrents of rain, trekking through mountains and rivers, to grab crops on steep hillsides. For mature crops, the farmers are often worried that the crops might be destroyed by natural disasters if they are too late to harvest. There are also immature crops that cannot be harvested for the time being; but if they are not harvested earlier, all the farming would be destroyed in the next moment. Faced with such difficult situations, farmers often feel quite bitter and helpless. Furthermore, even if the farmers risk there lives to harvest agricultural products in time, they will then face a tug-of-war on the purchase price of wholesalers. Sadly, the disadvantaged farmers are often unable to obtain good selling prices. In fact, most aborigines in Taoyuan District do not understand marketing. Take mangoes as an example, some wholesalers would buy mangoes from Taoyuan District, but mix them with brands from Yujing District, Tainan, or Fangshan District, Pingtung, and then resold them to consumers. As a result, mangoes in Taoyuan District are not well-known and have not been favored by consumers for a long time. But in fact, the taste of mangoes in Taoyuan District is more sweet and delicious. Now, with the assistance of Cheng-Shiu University's marketing and packaging strategy, Kao is more and more confident in the sales of his home planted mangoes.

One day, in a course of Entrepreneurship taught by Professor Fang Li-sing of Cheng-Shiu University, Gao shared and explained the difficulties of his hometown fellows. Under such a chance, Professor Fang and Professor Chuang Wen-Dian combined school resources, and with the active matching and promotion of President Kung Jui-chang, the university held the event "Send Love to KALAVUNG from Cheng-Shiu University ." During the event, President Gong bought 50 boxes of mangoes on the spot and awarded NT$100,000 scholarship to Gao.

In the following year, Cheng-Shiu University, by integrating “University Social Responsibility, USR” launched by the Ministry of Education and "Project of Marketing for Agricultural Specialties of the Remote Township," created the brand "KALAVUNG Manor.", Including product development, design, production, and distribution. In the series of activities, special agricultural products from Taoyuan District are marketed and the brand launch promotions are held so as to let the public know more about the high-quality agricultural products grown and irrigated by pure mountain water in the Taoyuan District of Kaohsiung. Cheng-Shiu University Super Micro Mass Research &Technology Center also assists in food safety testing, media advertising and other comprehensive promotion plans.

Cheng-Shiu University continues to assist in the sales plan of rural specialty products. In the past two years, more than ten exhibitions and sales fairs have been held, attracting some aboriginal youths who work in urban cities to return Taoyuan District to work. This is one of the goals of University Social Responsibility, USR, to let rural areas take off and develop. However, many difficulties were encountered in the process. The innovative agricultural knowledge learned by young farmers in cities often conflicts with the elders' ideas in planting and management. Young generations feel helpless in the face of the shackles of traditional concepts. However, due to limited resources, young farmers’ practices cannot immediately achieve significant sales growth and persuade elders to adopt new practices. Now, the two generations are still experiencing a running-in period. In the project, Cheng-Shiu University has built the Aiyu Story House in Fuxingli, Taoyuan District. It is hoped that in the future, a tourist service center will be established on the Nanheng Highway so that tourists can obtain travel information and accommodation services at the center, then developing a new local tour of "One Day Farmer Experience," which can make Taoyuan's industry diversified. To make young aboriginals who are working off homeplace willing to return to their hometown, it is necessary to upgrade the industry, develop the economy, and improve the industry in this area. Only when all the conditions are met can it attract tourists to the Taoyuan District and promote the development of tourism.

In addition to the promotion in the mountains of Taoyuan District, Cheng-Shiu University also makes good use of the integration of internal resources to motivate students to participate in specific marketing strategies and actions, including assisting in the creation of brand concepts for agricultural products in Taoyuan District, designing Line Stickers and mascots such as plum, mango, Bamboo shoots, aiyu and gingers, aiming to narrow the distance between Taoyuan District and consumers. In addition, the Taoyuan Tour Planning Competition was also held during the event. This year, the first prize winner of "Taoyuan Tour Planning Competition " was recommended to participate in the National Tourism Elite Cup for National Tour Itinerary Design Competition, the students also got dazzling results in it.

When talking about the "Taoyuan Project," people often mistake it for Taoyuan County in northern Taiwan. They don't know that there is a beautiful Taoyuan District in Kaohsiung City. The executive team of Cheng-Shiu University continues to enthusiastically guide and assist the district, carefully planning for the agricultural products of the area, including marketing, packaging, holding various press conferences, exhibitions, and agricultural technology training courses, leading farmers in Taoyuan District to observe and learn together. The most touching thing is that the team is pleased to see the results of the training in the past few years in the farmers. The team is still actively preparing for the next round of promotion for Taoyuan District.