Agriculture Bureau of Taichung City Government rolls out a program to prevent the spread of Apple Snail. First phase of the program is to guide farmers to pick up Apple Snail by hand without the use of chemicals. Farmers can deliver their catch to any District Office to get cash reward. The Apple Snails will be sent later to fish farms as feeds.

This program has been going on from March 20, 2015 until April 28, 2015. During the period between 8:00 and 12:00, every Tuesday and Friday, people can bring their Apple Snail to one of the 12 District Offices (namely Dajia, Daan, Waipu, Qingshui, Wuci, Daya, Shengang, Houli, Longjing, Wurih, Tatu, and Wufeng) to exchange cash reward at NT$15 per kilogram for the bodies of Apple Snail and NT$1 for per 10 grams of its eggs (no payment for eggs under 10 grams).

As this Apple Snail acquisition program was pushed out a little bit late, our colleagues at Agriculture Bureau did not expect too much response from the farmers but were shocked to see the high turnouts in the first day of acquisition. For example, a farmer from Tanzi District, which does not join the acquisition plan this time, rode on his motorbike to travel a long distances to Daya District Office to hand in 11 kilograms of Apple Snail; Wurih District Office received a bag of eggs of Apple Snail, weighing 2,810 grams, and paid out NT$2,180; and three old peasants worked together to carry 148 kg of bodies of Apple Snail to Longjing District Office and got paid of NT$2,200. Every farmer receiving the reward felt happy.

The first day of acquisition totaled 437 kg of bodies and 7,211 grams of eggs, a result totally out of expectation. However, the Agriculture Bureau would like to remind people to pay attention to their own safety when picking up Apple Snail and its eggs. People are also advised not to raise Apple Snail; otherwise, they may be fined of NT$60,000 to NT$ 300,000. For more information, please visit the website of Agriculture Bureau of Taichung City Government. Everyone is welcomed to join the ranks of Apple Snail picking to ensure food security and ecological agriculture.