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oung farmers from Taiwan are visiting Indonesia to exchange ideas and expand networks with their Indonesian counterparts.

During their one-week visit, the agriculture ambassadors are visiting Lembang in West Bandung regency, West Java, to meet local farmers who are trained in and empowered by the Taiwan Technical Mission (TTM). The TTM started in 1976, covering among other things, strengthening agribusiness incubators and human resources development in Bandung and one-village-one-product projects in Bali.

The group will also meet with students of the Bogor Agricultural University during their stay from Sept. 9 to 16.

“These are young people with expertise not only in agriculture, but also forestry, fisheries and animal husbandry. Most of them have built their own businesses,” said the Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) representative in Indonesia, John C. Chen.

He said he expected the young farmers to use the opportunity to expand their networks and identify areas of cooperation with Indonesia. Chen said the young farmers went through a selection process before being chosen for the first young agricultural ambassadors program under the New Southbound Policy, which aims to strengthen Taiwan’s ties with 18 countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australasia.

“Fifteen people came to Indonesia and 15 others were sent to the Philippines,” he said.

He said that the organizer decided to choose a new generation of agribusiness players so they could contribute with their innovative and high technology skills to further develop the sector.

“Recently in Taiwan, more and more young people come back to their hometowns and become farmers. We call them the new wave of farmers,” he said.

One of the farmers, Liu Ching Yuan, the third generation in his family managing the Xing-Yuan Tea Garden in Yilan, said he tries to combine leisure with agriculture, which is getting popular in Taiwan.

On his tea farm, he allows tourists to make and taste its specialy, oolong tea. He has also introduced green-tea ice cream making. “That way I can increase the value of my farm and introduce the tourists to local culture at the same time,” he said.

Chung-hsiu Hung, the director of farmer services at Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture, who is also the young farmers’ patron, said that currently there are 82 agriculture tourism spots throughout Taiwan. “We hope that the more young people are involved in agribusiness, the more we can develop smart agriculture, meaning we can make use of limited land to produce more high quality agricultural products,” he said.

Data from TETO shows that Indonesia was Taiwan’s 14th largest trading partner in 2016, 16th largest export market and 10th largest source of imports.

Taiwan’s main exports to Indonesia include oil products, iron, steel and chemicals. Indonesia’s main exports to Taiwan include natural gas, coal, copper and gold.