Lack of work in agriculture: Taiwan's agriculture continues its salary transmission, and it is a dream for young and middle-aged people to return to their hometown

The lack of work during the busy harvest period plagued many farmers. in order to solve the problem of seasonal technical shortage and stabilize the agricultural labor force, the Council of Agriculture cooperated with farmers to launch agricultural technology missions and agricultural new farming groups and other organizations throughout Taiwan. So far, the agro-technical mission has set up 14 delegations in various counties and cities, and about 697 members have participated in it. The main categories of industrial and agricultural products are fruit trees and vegetables, and the demand is high because the shortage of workers is mostly seasonal. At present, the number of people has reached 29369. As for the major vegetable producing areas and the agricultural producing areas with labor shortage problems, by 108, a total of 17 agricultural new groups had been set up, with 20-30 farmers enrolled in each regiment, with the purpose of providing a stable agricultural labor force in the region. and improve the problem of low-skilled labor shortage.

  was taught the secret of actual combat and reaped a great harvest in the practice of young farmers.

Holding a high cash crop red quinoa in his hand under the scorching sun, 34-year-old Lai Jianhong's eyes are full of happiness. He introduces the harvest and farming experience of red quinoa. It is hard to imagine that he was a shift operator at the Taipei Printing Factory more than two years ago. Now he is an agricultural master of the Pingbei regiment in Pingtung, and he is also a representative of young people returning to their hometown. Farming has always been his dream, and the agricultural technical team has helped him realize this dream.

Lai Jianhong lives with his wife and 2-year-old daughter in Zuoying, Kaohsiung. He commutes to and from Pingbei farm in Pingtung like an office worker every day, working with different farmers regularly to experience all kinds of farming. He said that he had a desire to farm at the beginning, but he ran up against a brick wall everywhere when he went to find land and farming opportunities. Fortunately, he saw the relevant information of the agricultural technology mission. After he signed up for the training, two years of practical experience enabled him to accumulate a lot of agricultural knowledge. Learning with farmers even enabled him to acquire "practical secrets" that he could not learn in textbooks.

Lai Jianhong first planted fragrant lemons in the Pingbei regiment, and later, including eggplant and jujube, participated in the planting and harvest, joined the agro-technical mission, and made him go from scratch to have, just like the strategy of a video game, to familiarize himself with farming practice in the shortest time, and to provide him with the direction and reference of finding land and selecting crops in the future.

Lai Jianhong said that farming has always been his dream, and the agricultural technology team has helped him realize this dream.

Zhang Tingwei, a 26-year-old member of the Hsinchu Emei regiment, worked as an ironworker before joining the agricultural farming regiment last year. Later, he signed up online, and then attended successive lecture courses after passing the interview, and then practiced on the farm. The rotation of different farms every three months from tea to orchards allowed him to learn a lot of different farming experiences. For the future, he hopes to stay in the new agricultural regiment. You can not only learn from different farmers, but also have a job with a stable income.

Chang Ting-Wei, a farmer, also admitted that few young people want to do this now. After all, it is a work of relative labor, but he actually observed that there will be a shortage of workers in a lot of agriculture in Taiwan. He very much hopes to use his example to encourage young people to join new agricultural groups to fight for Taiwan's agriculture.

Chang Ting-Wei, a farmer, wants to encourage young people to join the new agricultural regiment to fight for Taiwan's agriculture. (photo / courtesy of Zhang Tingwei)

 , a professional soldier, finds a new battlefield in agriculture.

Hong Qihui, the monitor of the first regiment of the Hengchun regiment in Pingtung and an agricultural chef, laughed with a hearty laugh and talked about the reasons for joining the agro-technical regiment. He laughed and said that it was really hard to work as a professional soldier in the office, but he said that he had learned a lot of knowledge that could not be read in books, and valuable farming skills from the older generation of farmers.

Hong Qihui lives in Pingtung, and his own family is also a farmer. after retiring from the army, he returned to Taiwan after going abroad for five years, and then worked at the Marine Museum near his home. He helped his family work every six days. After his father suffered a stroke in 2011, he began to devote himself wholeheartedly to agricultural planting. After joining the technical mission in 2018, he seemed to "evolve" to another field and learn all kinds of farming skills. He said that farming means hard work and observation and learning.

After joining the technical team last year, his daily farming made him stronger. He pointed to the weeds in the distance. He said, "I have to compete with these weeds every day, and people have to work harder to weed them when they grow faster." He said that it was actually very hard to join an agro-technical mission, but later, through actual farming and observation, he knew that he had to find a way. For example, at the beginning of planting rice fields, he cut the skin with his hands, honed his hands and learned "secret skills." then I know how to do it more efficiently.

Hong Qihui said that he often went to see how the older generation of farmers cut seeds, and when they saw that they didn't know much, they asked, and gained new knowledge through study, which made him feel particularly comfortable at work every day. He also took reporters to see his work condition on the spot, starting with how he took care of lychee trees and how to cut them on the farm, as if he were talking about how he took care of his own children, and took good care of his farm work. He laughed that there was no doctor in farming. They all honed slowly to observe and find the most suitable method.

Hung Chi-hui, currently an agricultural master, works on various farms in Hengchun, Pingtung, waiting for one farm to finish harvesting and then working on other farms. He currently grows red dragon fruit and jade purse, and has the cooperation of fixed farmers. Both sides have a tacit understanding of cooperation. As far as he is concerned, the agro-technical team is constantly learning and learning farming from practice.

Focusing on solving the current situation of agricultural labor shortage, the agro-technical mission currently adopts a more open selection method at the front end in order to obtain more people who are willing to engage in agricultural work. The first stage selection conditions do not set a threshold for age, gender, past work experience, etc., but are selected first through a wide range of candidates during the data review period. In addition, due to the higher physical requirements of agricultural field work, it was also screened through physical fitness tests in the first stage of selection.

Hong Qihui, an agricultural chef of Hengchun Tuan in Pingtung, currently grows red dragon fruit and jade purse, with the cooperation of fixed farmers, and both sides have a tacit understanding of cooperation. (photo / photo by Zhuang Xiaoping)