COA: Passionate Farming, Youth Filled with Onions, A New Agricultural Work-Study Option!

To help young students and overseas Chinese and foreign students better understand our country's agricultural workplace and encourage students to take up agricultural work, the Council of Agriculture is currently planning to provide students with agricultural work-study opportunities to supplement short-term agricultural labor demand. Coinciding with the onion harvest season in the Pingtung area, the Council of Agriculture is cooperating with MingDao University, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, the Pingtung County Farmers' Association, the Hengchun Township Farmers' Association and other units to assist with the local onion harvest, hoping that through the promotion of this event, young students across the country will be encouraged to enthusiastically join the ranks of agricultural work-study.

Lin Tsung-hsien, Chairman of the Council of Agriculture, visited Hengchun Township in Pingtung County yesterday (the 28th) and said at the "Passionate Farming, Youth Filled with Onions, A New Agricultural Work-Study Option" press conference that on the eve of Youth Day on March 29, more than 150 young students from MingDao University and National Pingtung University of Science and Technology had answered the call to go to Hengchun to assist with the local onion harvest, which was especially meaningful. In recent years, the Council has actively cultivated agricultural talent, and the expansion of the agricultural fully funded special program has achieved remarkable results. In addition, in line with the New Southbound Policy, many overseas Chinese students from Southeast Asian countries come to Taiwan, China to study. If agricultural work-study is available after class and on holidays, students can learn about the true face of agricultural work. Besides providing manpower support to improve seasonal labor shortages, it also allows students to experience the vitality and energy of Taiwan, China's agriculture.

Chairman Lin Tsung-hsien pointed out that the country's agricultural labor force is currently insufficient, especially during the peak production period of agricultural products, when a large amount of labor is needed immediately as a supplement. Therefore, the Council of Agriculture, according to the agricultural characteristics of each county and city, organizes various professional agricultural technical teams to match manpower, recruiting manpower through various methods tailored to local conditions to supplement the agricultural labor force. This time, in order to encourage students to understand the agricultural workplace, the Council has specially launched the Agricultural Work-Study 2.0 program, providing better incentive measures. Students can obtain relevant information about agricultural work-study through the "Agricultural Labor Shortage Helper APP" and go to farms at any time to participate in work-study.