FEATURE/Thai worker finds 2nd home on water snowflake farm in southern Taiwan

Kaohsiung, June 18 (CNA) Standing waist-deep in water, 45-year-old Thai migrant worker Kwanchai Pongphet carefully harvests water snowflake, a signature crop in Kaohsiung's Meinong District in southern Taiwan.

For Pongphet, the rural landscape is more than a workplace. The scenery, which resembles his hometown in Thailand, has gradually become a second home.

Water snowflake, once a wild aquatic plant in Meinong Lake, has been cultivated as a commercial vegetable crop for decades and is now a common dish on Taiwanese tables, valued for its crisp texture and mild sweetness.

According to Kaohsiung's Agriculture Bureau, Meinong accounts for about 80 percent of Taiwan's annual output of water snowflake and generates around NT$540 million (US$18 million) in yearly production value. More than 400 farming households are involved in the industry.

As rural Taiwan faces chronic labor shortages, migrant workers have become essential to this labor-intensive sector.

In Meinong, migrant workers have helped fill labor gaps while also reshaping the social fabric of the traditionally Hakka township.

Vietnamese bakeries, Thai restaurants, and other Southeast Asian businesses now stand alongside traditional Hakka noodle shops in the area.

During Lunar New Year, migrant workers often wear traditional clothing and visit temples together, creating their own community traditions.

Pongphet's employer, a farmer surnamed Fan (范), said her family shifted from running an ironworks factory to cultivating water snowflake in 2002.

The work requires long hours in water and carries risks of cuts and skin disease, making it difficult to attract younger local workers, Fan told CNA.

Before Taiwan's agriculture sector became eligible for migrant labor, some farms relied on undocumented workers to sustain operations, she said.

With legal hiring channels now established in the sector, migrant workers have become the backbone of the industry, Fan said.

The resilience and ingenuity of migrant workers on the farm are impressive, she said, adding they buy protective sleeves to prevent skin irritation and modify harvesting tools for greater efficiency.

Pongphet said, however, that he suffers from skin irritation and physical strain but rarely complains.

His personal care routine remains simple -- he takes vitamins before work, washes, and applies skin medication after work, he told CNA.

He has been working on Fan's farm for six years, putting in long hours to support his wife and children in Thailand, he said.

Over the years, Pongphet said, his family and Fan's have developed a close bond, and he feels well cared for by his employer.

Fan's family treats him like one of their own, buying him a scooter, helping him learn to drive, and paying for flights so he can return home to visit his family, Pongphet said.

"Meinong is like my hometown in Thailand," he said. "My employer treats me like family."