Taitung's sugar apple growers face difficulties in switching crops, and the county government has acknowledged that it cannot find a crop to replace the atemoya — bad news for fruit farmers.

• After sales of atemoya to China were blocked, exports plunged from nearly 20,000 tonnes to 4,000 tonnes, and farmers were encouraged to clear their orchards and switch crops.
• Councillors questioned whether emerging tropical fruits such as durian, rambutan and mangosteen offer any guarantee of yield or market access, arguing that farmers cannot simply be told to switch.
• The county government is subsidising crop switching countywide with NT$34.81 million this year, but farmers' first choices remain established crops such as the big-eye sugar apple and citrus, which have stable markets and well-understood cultivation techniques.
• The barriers to switching are high: one farmer spent more than NT$20 million building a greenhouse to grow durian, an outlay ordinary smallholders simply cannot afford.
• Councillors are also concerned that unsold atemoya will eat into the market for the big-eye sugar apple, which is just entering its season.

Outlook: The county government is hedging its bets, guiding crop switching on one hand while pushing domestic sales on the other, but absorbing the atemoya crop entirely within Taiwan remains a considerable way off.