64 Asian Projects Honoured at AREA 2019 in Taipei
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64 projects and business leaders awarded for championing sustainable and socially responsible business practices in Asia at AREA 2019.
Global Banking | Finance
TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media_OutReach – 11 June 2019 – A total of 64 projects and business leaders across 16 countries in Asia were selected as recipients of Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards (AREA) 2019, an increase of 19% from last year. Regarded as the top corporate social responsibility awards in Asia, this year’s ceremony was organized in Taipei, after being held in Macau, Singapore, Bangkok, and Manila previously.

Organized by Enterprise Asia, the leading non-governmental organization for responsible entrepreneurship in Asia, the AREA aims to recognize and honor Asian businesses and leaders for championing sustainable and socially responsible business practices. The award categories are social empowerment, investment in people, health promotion, green leadership, corporate governance, and responsible business leadership. Some of the dignitaries who graced the event include Mr. Chang San-cheng, former premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Mr. Hou Yu-Ih, mayor of New Taipei City.

Leading the list of winners under the green leadership category was Nice Garden Industrial Co., Ltd. with their project “Sustainable Agri-Food Practitioner – – NEXTLAND”.

Since 1984, Nice Garden Industrial has been persistently focusing on nutrition and health products for the livestock and aquaculture industries. The Company pursues sustainable development, and their mission is to become the integrator from farm to table. Nice Garden dedicates themselves to establish a transparent, safe and trustworthy supply of food. The Company started with international trade of animal nutrition and health products, and expanded into the professional service to operating two pig farms, opening the restaurant WONMI, establishing the meat processing factory and agriculture and creative gallery NEXTLAND, and branding pork CHOICE PIG.

Nice Garden’s vision is to become a safe, healthy and trustworthy benchmark of the agri-food industry chain. Each of its business unit shares and practices the same core concept to build a complete pork agri-food chain. NEXTLAND is the essential element to complete the innovative pork agri-food chain in Taiwan. Through cognitive education, the philosophy of food is conveyed to the consumers. The mission of the project is to bridge the gap between consumers and producers, and reposition the conventional industries to upgrade the agri- food culture in Taiwan.

NEXTLAND, the first fully transparent and open pork cutting factory in Taiwan, is an important component of the complete pork industrial chain, as well as a platform for education of agriculture and food safety. It is also the first popular science promotion site with agricultural theme. It provides good dietary information in a simple way to educate the public on what is good- quality pork and how good pork is produced. When more consumers agree with the concept which Nice Garden wants to share, the power of consumers’ choice initiates the change of old farming habits to reduce the impact of the environment. Consumers have safe and healthy option for pork, and the positive cycle of production and consumption can be sustainable.

Achievement and Impact NEXTLAND has obtained the gold-level certification of the green building factory. In order to reduce the impact on the environment, NEXTLAND was renovated from an old canning factory, and retained almost all the trees in the original factory by following the concept of cherishing nature and pursuing sustainability. The project has created nearly 100 job opportunities in the local area, and the proportion of employees in the local area has amounted over 70%. In addition to agricultural and food information, NEXLAND also focuses on promotion for Yunlin Culture. The market in the museum sells Yunlin special agriculture products, and selects high-quality food ingredients for consumers.

In 2018, NEXTLAND won the honour of International Spotlight Tourism Factory of Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Nice Garden won the Best Practice Award for Local Business Operations at the 25th National Quality Awards. It was also recognized because of NEXTLAND in Yunlin.

NEXTLAND follows the Japanese JAS standard, and passes ISO22000, HACCP, CAS, TAP certifications to provide high- quality pork. The number of visitors has exceeded over 230,000 since 2016, and has increased steadily. The quantity of meat processing increased from 1,135 in 2016 to 23,000 in 2018. This leap in growth is a recognition of consumers, and a manifestation of the changes in Taiwan food culture.

Future Direction The future plan of Nice Garden is to replicate the NEXTLAND and CHOICE PIG shared-branding model and involve more partners from the farming community to the meat processing industry to create a bigger eco-system where transparency and traceability are celebrated and promoted in the greater Taiwanese F&B and consumer market.

This co-branding production system allows farmers to have a benchmark on better adaptation into greener production process, and also more direct impact on how the processing plant manage their sourcing and traceable meat production. Nice Garden aims to upgrade the current business model into a standard of living for Taiwan and transfer this business model to South East Asia. To Nice Garden, to create these service and brand is not simply for the sake of CSR, it is the Company’s belief that the sustainable development goals is a vital paradigm shift for future business operation. The Company will continue to focus on lowering the environmental impact of animal protein production, lowering the carbon footprint of the production chain, creating higher awareness on animal welfare, as well as providing a safer and more sustainable food source for everyone. *** About Enterprise Asia *** Enterprise Asia is a non-governmental organization in pursuit of creating an Asia that is rich in entrepreneurship as an engine towards sustainable and progressive economic and social development within a world of economic equality. Its two pillars of existence are investment in people and responsible entrepreneurship. Enterprise Asia works with governments, NGOs and other organizations to promote competitiveness and entrepreneurial development, in uplifting the economic status of people across Asia and in ensuring a legacy of hope, innovation and courage for the future generation. For more information, visit: https://www.enterpriseasia.org/. *** About Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards *** The Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards recognizes and honors Asian businesses for championing sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship in the categories of Green Leadership, Investment in People, Health Promotion, Social Empowerment, Corporate Governance and Responsible Business Leadership. For more information, visit: https://enterpriseasia.org/area/.