To combat agricultural labor shortages, Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) yesterday announced plans to hire an additional 8,000 foreign agricultural workers, raising the quota to 20,000.
The Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee invited Chen to report on proposed measures to improve the foreign agricultural workforce policy.
Previously, the quota for foreign agricultural workers was set at 12,000, up from the initial 800 set in 2019 for a pilot program, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
Seventy percent of those spots, or 8,508 workers, have already been brought in under the scheme, he said, adding that the full quota is expected to be met by the end of the year.
The Ministry of Agriculture is currently in talks with the Ministry of Labor to increase the quota by another 8,000, hopefully by the year-end, he said.
The new policy would also allow producers of mushrooms and bean sprouts to hire foreign workers, as well as allow small-scale enterprises to hire one foreign worker for every local hire, Chen said.
Currently, only household farms and cooperatives with fewer than 10 employees may hire one foreign worker for every local hire, Chen said.
Producers of sod and bean sprouts would now be able to hire foreign workers, while producers of rice seedlings and mushrooms are to face fewer requirements when hiring foreign labor, he said.
The agriculture ministry is to also run a pilot program allowing workers to move around to help with seasonal job shortages, he added.
The ministry has also implemented programs to bring Filipino, Indonesian and other foreign nationals to Taiwan for agricultural internships.
The plan has already been rolled out in 14 cities and counties, bringing in 1,500 interns in 46 agricultural groups, the ministry said.
The agricultural labor force has decreased in the past decade, from 548,000 in 2015 to 509,000 last year, it said.
The average age of workers has also increased from 52.6 to 53.5, it added.
According to a survey from 2022, 6 percent of farming households in Taiwan experience labor shortages, including 1.1 percent lacking permanent workers and 5.1 percent lacking temporary workers, the ministry said.
The greatest shortage is felt in Taiwan’s central region, followed by southern Taiwan, it added.
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