Abstract
This article explores the daily lives of Han Taiwanese farmers in colonial Taiwan, concentrating on the
extension of technologies by Japanese sugar companies and farmers' harvesting practices. Previous studies of
Taiwanese economic history in the colonial period have mainly focused on the development of industry or
introduction of various technologies. However, the experience of farmers must also be examined, especially their
daily lives, if we are to legitimately assess the diverse influences of colonialism. Recent studies of Taiwanese
economic history in the Qing era have explored new ground by focusing on the food and the environmental
background of Han Taiwanese farmers. Based on these studies, this article examines the agricultural practices
and food of Han Taiwanese sugarcane farmers in colonial Taiwan. First, we consider the relationship between
the extension work by Japanese sugar companies and the production and consumption of Taiwanese farmers in
the 1910s. Reports written by Japanese engineers of Kagichō Nōkai（ 嘉義庁農会） are used to illustrate how the
two groups came into conflict and the ways in which companies attempted to resolve difficulties. Second, we
illustrate how potatoes, peanuts, and seafood were harvested and how fuel was gathered by sugarcane farmers.
Harvesting was an important activity for Taiwanese farmers even after sugarcane cultivation spread in the
colonial era, as it satisfied the farmers’ subsistence. We discuss specifics of harvesting during that period and
examine the tension between harvesting and ownership, basing our explorations on historical records and
interviews that I conducted during my two years of fieldwork in the southwestern part of Zhanghua County （彰化県）. This study is an attempt to rethink Taiwanese economic history from a perspective that accounts for the
daily lives of Taiwanese farmers, using a combination of an elaborated reading of historical records and
interviews obtained from long-term fieldwork.
