The frequent occurrence of extreme weather events in recent years has led to water scarcity in agriculture, particularly during the spring planting season when there is competition for water with domestic and industrial use. The Ministry of Agriculture is promoting the production of other grains such as corn, soybeans, and sorghum. This initiative is being implemented in conjunction with measures such as large-scale rotation, the "four out of three" rice planting schedule, green subsidies, and agricultural insurance, with the goal of ensuring farmers' income and food security.

The Seed Improvement and Propagation Station (TSIPS) has stated that the brewing sorghum varieties "Tainan No. 8" is high-quality varieties bred by the Tainan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station. Since 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Kinmen County Government have collaborated with the Syuejia District Farmers' Association in Tainan City and other Farmers' Associations contracting entities to sign contracts with Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor Inc. (KKL) for contract brewing sorghum production in Taiwan. In August 2023, KKL launched the "Yi Gu Zuo Qi(一穀作契)" Kinmen Kaoliang, the first product made from 100% Taiwanese brewing sorghum.

The key to continuously expanding sorghum contract farming acreage lies in ensuring a stable supply of high-quality seeds. TSIPS has accumulated experience in seed sorghum production and processing, serving as a solid foundation for the supply of domestic grain seeds. Prior to the autumn planting season in 2023, TSIPS visited the seed sorghum fields to observe the growth conditions in Syuejia District (Figure 1). With the consent of the Syuejia Farmers' Association, TSIPS proposed a public-private partnership approach for seed harvesting (Figure 2). TSIPS dispatched personnel and provided mobile drying trailers (Figure 1) to the site. Once the seed spikes were dried and threshed, seeds were sent to TSIPS for further selection and grading and certified seeds with a germination rate of 92% were produced. This public-private collaboration model effectively met the demand of sorghum seeds for 1,500 ha farming acreage in 2024, demonstrating the success of a shared prosperity approach between the public sector and producers.

Figure 1. Seed sorghum production field of Syuejia District Farmers' Association in Tainan.

Figure 2.Appearance of good quality "Tainan No. 8" sorghum ears.