Pingtung County provides funding and finds mentors to encourage young people to return to their hometowns to take up farming

To encourage young people to return to their hometowns to farm, the Pingtung County Government recently launched the "Swallows Flying South: Youth Returning Home and Root Economy Development" program. Accepted trainees can take part in a sixty-hour training course and learn by doing on internship farms, and each person can receive up to 360,000 in subsidies. Registration for this program closes on February 28, with 72 trainees expected to be recruited; about 30 people have currently registered.

Up to 360,000 in subsidies per person

Pingtung County launched this youth farming subsidy program called Swallows Flying South, providing trainees with a living allowance during the training period and a startup grant once they confirm they will farm, helping young farmers smoothly embark on the path of farming.

"We hope young people can truly return to their hometowns to farm, so we must provide them with real, practical help," said Zheng Yongyu, section chief of the Agricultural Production and Marketing Section of the Pingtung County Agriculture Department. He believes funding and technology are the two most primary factors. During the one-year training period, trainees take a sixty-hour training course and are matched with farms for internships, learning farming techniques through hands-on practice.

On the funding side, each month the internship farm and the Pingtung County Government each provide trainees with a 10,000 living allowance. However, the 10,000 provided by Pingtung County can only be collected after the internship ends. Once trainees confirm they will farm, the Pingtung County Government will provide an additional 120,000 startup subsidy. In other words, trainees who join the Swallows Flying South program can receive up to 360,000 in subsidies, which helps somewhat with their financial situation in the early stage of entering agriculture.

Providing trainees with farm internship opportunities