The goal of making NT$1 million (US$30,242) per year has long been an aspiration for Taiwanese, and while most of those who are able to achieve that goal are white-collar workers, the experience of Tseng Chia-lin (曾加霖) and Huang Chun-hao (黃俊豪) have shown that young farmers can too.
The farmers’ association in Tainan’s Jiangjun District (將軍) has seen firsthand the impact of the nation’s aging demographics on the agricultural sector, as the average age of residents of local agricultural communities is about 62 years old, so it is taking steps to draw young people back to farming.
The association, in collaboration with the Council of Agriculture, provides subsidies to encourage young people to take up farming.
Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei Times
The association has established courses that help young farmers learn production management and marketing, and also sponsored farmers’ markets to aid the sale of farmers’ produce, association director-general Wu Ming-cheng (吳明成) said.
Traditional agriculture is labor intensive, which has discouraged young people from pursuing farming as a career, but recent years have brought changes in concepts regarding agriculture, Wu said.
Many of the young people now involved in farming in the district have left other professions and are interested in farming because they want to work closer to nature or to live in a rural area, Wu said.
Chen Li-hao (陳力豪), 24, is one such example.
He has a master’s degree in economics and used to work as stock analyst, but decided to move to Jiangjun two years ago because he no longer wanted to work in an office, Wu said.
Chen said he had no previous farming experience since he did not come from a farming family, but he was willing to bear the risks of natural disaster and pests that come with farming.
The majority of young farmers in the district are under 40 years old and some were able to make NT$1 million last year by growing corn, asparagus and fruits, Wu said.
Their achievements have come as a surprise to many older farmers, association staffer Lin Yen-liang (林彥良) said.
We hope that these young farmers will remain in the community to help rejuvenate farming villages and the industry as a whole, Wu said.
However, sounding like the analyst he once was, Chen said that farming was not a guaranteed ticket to a better life and individuals should weigh the risks accordingly.
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