 From the early to mid twentieth century, Taiwan was predominantly an agricultural economy despite its lack of arable land located in a subtropical zone prone to plant diseases and bugs that did not make the island conducive for agriculture.To cope with Taiwan's natural disadvantages, Japan began investing in intensive research and development and established rural institutions to create new methods of agricultural cultivation such as modern irrigation systems, newer and improved breeds of plants and crops that resisted changes in weather patterns, diseases, and bugs.Through modern irrigation and agricultural cultivation techniques, Taiwan would soon become the advanced rice producing country in East Asia between 1930s to the 1950s.