The Ministry of Labor (MOL) on Friday said the quota for agricultural migrant workers in the country would increase from 12,000 to 20,000.
The additional agricultural migrant workers would be assigned to crop farming, livestock farming and “outreach agricultural services,” the ministry said.
The decision was made by a policy consultation committee of the ministry’s Cross-Border Workforce Management Division.
Photo: Lee Ching-hui, Taipei Times
The original quota for agricultural migrant workers was 12,000.
There were 8,505 workers in the country as of June, and the ministry expects at least an additional 3,500 workers to arrive by the end of the year.
With the committee agreeing to an additional 8,000 workers, the total number in that category would increase to 20,000, the ministry said.
MOL Cross-Border Workforce Management Division head Su Yu-kuo (蘇裕國) said that 4,000 workers would be assigned to crop farms, 2,000 to livestock farms and 2,000 to “outreach agricultural services,” in which non-governmental organizations or cooperatives would manage workers and assign them to businesses that need help with agricultural tasks.
Taiwan launched a pilot program for foreign agricultural workers in 2019 with a quota of 800, which was increased to 12,000 last year, Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) said in a report to the legislature’s Economics Committee in June.
The proposal to increase the quota to 20,000 was put forward by the Ministry of Agriculture to address the country’s labor shortage, and was approved by the MOL’s Cross-Border Workforce policy consultation committee on Friday, Su said after the committee meeting.
The increase would be accompanied by other measures, such as allowing turfgrass industry business owners to apply for agricultural migrant workers with certain requirements on a business scale, Su said without giving a timeline.
The sectors of sprouts, edible mushrooms, and rice seedling cultivation would also benefit from the increase in agricultural migrant workers and relaxed eligibility requirements, he said.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
SEMICONDUCTORS: TSMC is able to produce 2-nanometer chips and mass production is expected to be launched by next year, the company said In leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing China is behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) by at least 10 years as the Taiwanese chipmaker’s manufacturing process has progressed to 2 nanometers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday. Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee when asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) about a report published in August by the Chinese version of Nikkei Asia that said Taiwan’s lead over China in chip manufacturing was only three years. She asked Wu Cheng-wen if the report was an accurate
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
RSS