President Tsai Ing-wen visits Meinong's wild lotus industry, makes no mention of solving the labor shortage; farmers are "somewhat disappointed"

President Tsai Ing-wen went south to Kaohsiung today (June 23) to show concern for the development of Meinong's wild lotus and Qishan's banana industries, but Tsai Ing-wen made no statement on the long-standing and severe labor shortage in the wild lotus industry. After the president left, farmers privately described their feelings as "somewhat disappointed," because the 800 quota slots currently planned for opening by the Council of Agriculture might not even be enough for Meinong, let alone all of Taiwan.

To ease the agricultural labor shortage, the Council of Agriculture proposed in April this year that it planned to open 800 slots for young and Sorry, I can't respond to this question.

The main labor force in the wild lotus industry, the Vietnamese sisters, have somewhat different views. Some believe that the age limit for open work permits for relatives visiting Taiwan should be raised, because "our parents are already fifty or sixty years old. If it's restricted to 20 to 45, it seems like it won't help much." Other sisters believe, "I myself am Taiwanese too! I'm afraid that opening up too quickly will have an impact on Taiwan. I hope there will be good supporting measures and that it's done step by step."

Whether to open up work permits for visiting relatives as part of the New Southbound Policy

Tsai Shun-jo, office director of the Pingtung Haohao Women's Rights Development Association, said that Filipinos like to work as caregivers and Thais like to work as chefs. "Our experience in rural areas of southern Taiwan is that most farmers in the fields are of Vietnamese nationality. Perhaps in terms of nationality, the government can be a bit more realistic."

Second, having people from the wives' home country come to Taiwan to help is an absolute help to the development of Taiwanese families formed by new residents, and if agricultural workers can be brought in through the relatives-visiting channel, agricultural workers can also reduce the chance of being exploited by brokers. However, Tsai Shun-jo is full of doubts about the upper limit on the number of people opened up. She said, "There are 800 new residents in Gaoshu, Pingtung. These women do nothing but farm. Not only do they have to cultivate their husbands' family's land, they also have to cultivate land they rent themselves. Is the Council of Agriculture's 800 Strong Warriors only going to allocate one quota per new resident household in Gaoshu Township?"

Tsai Shun-jo also called out to the government, "Isn't positive opening-up exactly what echoes what President Tsai said about the New Southbound Policy?"

The Southern Sisters Association, Taiwan's earliest organization concerned with new residents, also weighed in. Lai Mei-ping, director of the association's southern office, believes that while the government opens up work permits for visiting relatives, it should use the opportunity to re-examine the labor rights of the sisters currently engaged in farming and of future relatives coming to work. She stressed that people cannot be viewed merely as labor. "Taiwanese society must recognize that what we need is labor, but what comes are people."

Lai Mei-ping said that if these people coming to work through the relatives-visiting channel suffer occupational injuries or labor disputes, there must also be relevant supporting systems to handle them.