The nation’s agriculture sector faces a chronic shortage of workers, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said.
Of the total shortage of nearly 280,000, approximately 267,000 workers are needed for temporary jobs on farms and 15,000 are needed for routine work, data compiled by the council showed.
Taichung and Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin and Nantou counties are troubled by a more serious shortage, with about 147,000 workers needed on farms, 54.9 percent of the total shortage, COA Deputy Director-General Lee Tui-chih (李退之) said.
Tainan and Kaohsiung, and Chiayi and Pingtung counties lack about 94,000 farm workers, while the north and the east lack about 13,000 workers, he said.
Regular and temporary workers are most needed on farms producing fruit and vegetables, while those producing garlic, Chinese cabbages, radishes, carrots, lettuce, peanuts and corn also need temporary workers, he said.
In central Taiwan, the sort of workers needed in the agriculture sector are similar to those needed by the manufacturing sector, but most workers go for the latter because it offers better pay, he said.
The nation’s vocational colleges changed into technological universities about two decades ago, which deeply affected the agricultural sector because most high-school graduates enter service industries instead of agriculture, Lee said.
Municipalities that rely on agriculture have been urging the government to improve the shortage of labor.
The Yunlin County Government since 2013 has been asking the Ministry of Labor to allow foreign laborers to be employed by farms or to allow the manufacturing industry’s foreign workers to help out on farms in their spare time.
The harvesting season varies by region and the shortage of workers could be solved if foreign workers are allowed to work on farms, said Chang Chih-lieh (張枝烈), secretary-general of the farmers’ association in Pingtung County’s Wandan Township.
However, both the ministry and the council are opposed to the suggestion, saying the opening up might affect the employment opportunities of domestic workers.
Agricultural workers are needed in certain seasons, but only for short periods, which could hardly be solved through the introduction of foreign workers, COA Deputy Director-General Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said.
Farmers would not be able to employ foreign workers for only three months and they would have to pay a lot of brokerage fees in advance, Chen said.
Foreign workers are forbidden to change their employer under the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), even when their work on a farm comes to an end, he added.
“Opening agricultural work to foreign workers is the easiest solution for administrative agencies, but it is also the most irresponsible way to go,” he said.
Reviving the economies of remote villages and encouraging more young people to return to their villages are the council’s long-term objectives, Chen said.
Additional reporting by Lin Kuo-hsien and Huang Shu-li
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was