Taiwan's food self-sufficiency ratio - the percentage of food it consumes which it also produces - has dropped from 56% in 1984 to 33% currently. That is lower than neighbouring countries such as Japan and South Korea, whose ratios are around 40%.
"What we are producing is not enough for us to eat, so the land is wasted," says Chang Chih-Sheng, a director at the farmers' services department for Taiwan's Council of Agriculture. "That's why we are encouraging people to be farmers."
The government wants to raise its food self-sufficiency to 40% by 2020. But the number of farmers in Taiwan are dwindling and the farming community mainly comprises an ageing group, where the average age is 57 years old.
The government says not enough young people are entering the field. And unlike neighbours such as Japan, Taiwan does not want to rely on imported farm labour; it wants farming skills to be passed on to the younger generation.
Since 2009, the agriculture council has been offering highly-subsidised courses for beginners. For about $150 (£96) in tuition fees and another $100 (£64) in room and board, students can live on a government-run training farm for a month and learn about seed germination and planting different kinds of vegetables, as well as irrigation and how to protect the crops from being infested by insects.