Ke Zhien's bid to fight back against criticism from the green camp: Farmers in Qishan remain consistent and call on them not to use farmers' hard work as a political tool

Ke Zhi'en, the candidate for Kaohsiung mayor of the Kuomintang, recently said "eat Pingtung bananas". Many green camp representatives and candidates criticized her today (5th) for harming the Qishan bananas. In response, Ke Zhi'en countered that Ke Zhi'en has always supported the farmers of Qishan and recently purchased Qishan bananas, calling on the green camp not to use the farmers' hard work as a political tool.

Many members of the Democratic Progressive Party's "Kaohsiung Defense Team" and legislator Qiu Yiying held a press conference today, saying that Ke Zhien's gaffe about "eating Pingtung bananas" caused a stir. An unnamed local gentry couldn't bear it, and they arrogantly bought 1,000 kilograms of Qishan bananas and sent them to " Fengshan Physical Bank"; everyone also criticized Ke Zhien's unqualified speech and hurt Qishan banana farmers, demanding that she should first understand the significance of Qishan bananas to the Kaohsiung industry, as well as the history and local emotions behind it, before talking about running for mayor of Kaohsiung.

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In response, Li Weizhen, spokesperson of Ke Zhien's bid, responded that in the past, whether it was proposing agricultural and fishery policies, fighting for farmers' rights, and going to the scene as soon as possible after natural disasters to conduct disaster surveys and seeking relief, Ke Zhien has always supported Kaohsiung's agriculture and farmers. I also thank all walks of life for taking practical actions to support local agricultural products in Kaohsiung and investing in public welfare. As long as it is good for Kaohsiung, everyone will support it together.

Ke Jingban pointed out that in addition to purchasing Qishan bananas recently, Ke Zhien also actively sought subsidies for banana farmers in the past when banana prices collapsed. In late August this year, heavy rains caused agricultural losses in Kaohsiung. Ke Zhien was the first legislator to seek "full product" assistance from the Ministry of Agriculture for agricultural and fishery products affected by the rain. He also sought to provide low-interest loans so that the farmers and fishermen affected by the disaster could receive more complete and substantial assistance.

Ke Jingban emphasized that in the face of increasingly frequent extreme weather, Ke Zhien also proposed Kaohsiung's "Five Agricultural Strategy" of "strong production, strong brand, strong access, strong consumption, and strong local area", advocating the establishment of resilient production and irrigation and drainage facilities, expanding from fresh fruits to banana chips, egg rolls and other processed products, and then connecting supermarkets, e-commerce, corporate procurement and even overseas markets and campus lunches to create a complete industrial chain. He also called on the Green Camp representatives and candidates to "let the taste of Qishan bananas return to good times, and stop using the hard work of farmers as a political tool in elections again and again."