酸與鹼：近代東亞肥料、肥皂的製造與消費

Abstract

二十世紀初德國發明新的合成氮製造技術刺激了全球化學肥料的生產,日本則是亞洲地區率先引進並大力採用此技術的國家,並隨其帝國版圖擴張而影響殖民地農業生產型態本文乃探究戰前臺灣朝鮮密集施肥農業的源頭,追溯其與日本化肥工業間的連動關係,以究明此種仰賴化肥農業型態的多重歷史社會因素 In 1910, Ftitz Harber and Carl Bosch invented the industrial process for producing ammonia synthesis. This magnificent invention is indeed a product of longing for resolution of overpopulation and grain deficient around the world. The so-called Harber-Bosch process was thus gradually and wide spread through out the globe. In East Asia, Japan was one of the leading countries on developing the nitrogen technology. Noguchi Jun and his colleagues learned the Frank-Caro method from Germany and founded Japan Nitrogenous Fertilizer, Inc. in August 1908. In the following decades, Japanese nitrogenous fertilizer was extensively circulated throughout East Asia concurrently with the expansion of Japan Empire. The outcome is a great transformation of the idea and habitus of farmers in this region. An investigation from UN shows that Japan, Taiwan and South Korea are the top-three countries for heavy-use of fertilizer in Asia. This figure indicates that chemical fertilizer seems to be a Japanese colonial legacy of agricultural activity. But how could it be? In what condition and process do the colonized farmers abandon their manure and adopt the chemical fertilizer? What is the environmental impact for the adoption of chemical fertilizer in this region? These are the problematic which I will try to resolve in this article.