Dairy farms are to be allowed to hire up to 400 migrant workers in an effort to help solve the sector’s labor shortage, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) said on Tuesday.
Qualified dairy farms can hire migrant workers in accordance with the procedures for recruiting local laborers, effective immediately, said Hsueh Chien-chung (薛鑑忠), a section head at the Workforce Development Agency.
Farms with a minimum of 80 cows that employ at least four Taiwanese could apply to hire one migrant worker, at a minimum monthly wage of NT$28,000, the MOL said.
In addition, up to 450 young Indonesians annually would be able to work in agriculture under an internship program, with the first group of 75 expected to arrive next month, Council of Agriculture (COA) official Su Meng-lan (蘇夢蘭) said.
Requests have been received from 118 farms since the program was announced last month, Su said.
The plan is based on a Japanese apprentice system that allows firms to accept foreign skilled workers from developing economies to fill personnel gaps, the council said.
Other measures are also being planned to address the nation’s agricultural labor shortage, it said.
It is considering allowing local farmers’ associations to directly recruit migrant workers, if they pass a review by officials from the council and local government, and experts, Su said.
A draft plan for the recruitment scheme is expected to be completed by the end of this month, Su said.
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