The land area in central Taiwan is about 740 thousand hectare and 194 thousand hectare of them can be used for cultivation which accounted for 22.2% of the total land. Vegetable productive area in central Taiwan is about 25,584 hectare and productive yield is 616,667 tones that accounted for 22.3% of total crop yield. Those data shows central Taiwan is an important area for vegetable production. Besides, due to the various terrains such as high mountain, field, and hills and be located in subtropical and tropical climatic zone, central Taiwan has plentiful diversity of vegetable crop.

Common vegetables are included Brassicaceae vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, Chinese kale, radish…etc.; Cucurbitaceae vegetables such as cucumber, spongy gourd, bitter gourd, watermelon…etc; Solanaceae vegetables such as tomatoes, pepper, chilli pepper, eggplant… etc., Fabaceae vegetables such as bean, pea, cowpea…etc.; Alliaceae vegetables such as onion, leek, garlic, onions…etc. Moreover, the vegetable industry changes through the accumulation of time, managing, as well as technology and forms a special cultivation model. Those characteristics are various crop kinds, multiple cropping, high mountain cultivation in summer, winter intercropping, and facilities cultivation. There are also many productive special area and marketing groups in central Taiwan.

Fig. 1. Vegetable cultivation model in central Taiwan.

Top 10 vegetables according to their productive area are cabbage, cauliflower, water bamboo, green onion, leek, carrot, common bean, pea, bamboo, and radish. Among them, water bamboo, pea, leek, and cauliflower account 86%, 95%, 73%, and 45% of Taiwan’s productive area indicate those vegetables are important local crop in central Taiwan.

Fig. 2. Top 10 vegetables and their main productive season in central Taiwan.

Crop	Photo	Description
Cabbage		Cabbage (Brassica oleraceae L. var. Capitata) is an important Brassicaceae vegetable with 7,369 hectare in Taiwan and 2,286 hectare in central Taiwan. It is cultivated in high mountain area in He-Pin, Taichung and Ren-Ai, Nantou. Fang-Yuan, Er-Lin, and Zhu-Tang, Changhwa are main productive area in lowland. It can be cultivated all year round. ‘K-Y cross’, 餼', and ‘Summer Summit’ are the major cultivars. Besides, ‘Taichung No. 1’ which developed by TDARES also has increasing area recently.
Cauli-flower		Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis L.) is an important Brassicaceae vegetable with 1,364 hectare in central Taiwan. It can be cultivated all year round. Pu-Yan, Changhwa, is one of the productive areas in Taiwan. There are 630 hectare and accounted 25% of total Taiwan’s area followed by Xi-Zhou and Da-Cheng. Cultivars of cauliflower according to their days from transplanting to harvest are included 35 days, 45 day, 55 day, and 75 days…etc.
Chinese cabbage		Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris L. ssp. pekinesis) is an annual Brassicaceae vegetable with 581 hectare in central Taiwan. It can be cultivated all year round. Xi-Zhou, Pi-Tou, and Zhu-Tang are the main productive area. Cultivars of Chinese cabbage are Zhangpu, Huanjing, Tianjin and Shandong and so on.
Water bamboo		Water bamboo (Zizania latifolia (Griseb.) Stapf) is Gramineae perennial aqutic vegetable. It swollen stem is caused by symbiosis with Ustilago esculenta P. Henn . It is one of an important summer vegetable and its main productive area is in Pu-Li, Nantou with 1,834 hectare. The main productive period is from April to October. ‘Green shall’ and ‘Taichung No. 1’ were main cultivars.
Green onion		Green onion (Allium fistulosum L.) is an Alliaceae annual vegetables with 4,361 hectare productive area in Taiwan and 1,650 hectare in central Taiwan. Fang-Yuan, Changhwa is the biggest are for green onion production followed by Er-Lin, Xi-Hu, and Xi-Zhou. December to next February is the main productive period.
Leek		Leek (Allium tuberosum) is Alliaceae perennial Vegetable and its productive area is about 793 hectare that accounted for 80% of total Taiwan. Pu-Yan, Changhwa is the main area for producing green leek all year. Xi-Hu and Er-Lin, Changhwa is for flower stalk-used leek and its harvest time is from August to October. Qing-shui, Taichung, and Pi-Tou, Changhwa are for blenching leek and its harvest time is from September to December. Cultivars are included narrow leave, wide leave and big leave.
Carrot		Carrot (Daucus carota L. var. sativa Hoffm) is Apiaceae root winter intercropped vegetable. December to next April is the major harvest time. The productive area in central Taiwan is about 550 hectare. Fan-Yuan and Ur-Lin, Chunghwa are the important productive area exported to Japan.
Common bean		Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a worldwide Fabaceae vegetable. Its main productive area is located in Xin-Yi and Ren-Ai, Nantou that accounted for 42% of total Taiwan’s productive area. It main productive time is from June to September in central Taiwan. ‘FM-268’, '#300', 'Taichung No. 2, 3, 5' and ‘FM-299’are the major cultivars.
Pea		Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an important Fabaceae vegetabl. The winter weather in central Taiwan is cool thus suitable for pea production as a intercropping vegetable. It main productive area is in Fu-Xing, Hsiu-shui, Pu-Yan, and Er-Lin, Changhwa is the major area. The cultivars depends in its usage are included pod pea ‘Taichung No. 11 and 12’, sweet pea ‘Taichung No. 13’ green pea 'Taichung No. 14', and leaf pea 'Taichung No 15'.
Bamboo shoot		Ma bamboo shoot (Dendrocalamus latiflorus) is the biggest kind of edible bamboo in Taiwan. Mountain area in Taichung city is its major productive area. The productive area is about 985 hectare and yield is 9,632 tons. The main harvest time id from May to September.
Radish		Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) is a Brassicaceae annual or perennial root vegetable with 2,612 hectare in Taiwan. Pu-Li, Nantou, and Fang-Yuan, Er-Lin, Changhwa are major productive area with 514 hectare. It can be cultivated all year round and its main harvest period s from December to next spring. ‘Mascot’ and ‘White Girl’ are the major cultivars.
Hydroponic Vegetable		There are 40 ha acreage of hydroponic vegetable farm spread around Changhua County. The major vegetable grown are including lettuce, herbs, celery, and Brassica species leafy vegetable.
substrate culture vegetables industry		There are 150 ha acreage of substrate culture farm spread around Nantou, Taichung and Changhua County. The major vegetable grown are including tomato, sweet pepper, melon and cucumber.