South Korea enacts a special law to establish agricultural and fishery universities; military service exemption and tuition support yield a 90% retention rate of graduates in farming

The problem of agricultural labour shortages is severe. Chen Bao-ji, minister of the Council of Agriculture, said at the end of last month during interpellation at the Legislative Yuan that a trial of foreign agricultural workers could begin as early as June. Once the news broke, public opinion was divided. In fact, Japan, South Korea and others all face the same problem, but beyond opening up to foreign labour, many countries recognise that only by continuously cultivating their own farmers can the problem be fundamentally solved. Take South Korea as an example: besides bringing in foreign labour, it also enacted a special law, established agricultural and fisheries universities, and used a publicly funded student model to require graduates to farm for 6 years and be exempt from military service, achieving a retention rate in farming as high as 90 percent.

Last October, the Asia-Pacific Food and Fertilizer Technology Center went to South Korea to take part in the international seminar on "Policies for Cultivating Agricultural Successors." NewsMarket conducted a special interview with Guo Kun-feng, section chief of the Extension Section of the Counseling Office of the Council of Agriculture, and Wang Jun-hao, professor in the Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development at National Taiwan University, who attended the meeting, to introduce South Korea's young farmer cultivation policy and propose feasible directions for Taiwan in the future.

Cultivating agricultural talent: South Korea enacts a special law and establishes an agricultural university

Scholars on Taiwan: a legal basis should be established, with a system to cultivate agricultural successors

Although the evaluation of these policies still needs strengthening, and South Korea's ageing problem remains serious, Wang Jun-hao believes that many of the concepts are very much worth the Taiwanese government's reference, especially the "Regulations Governing the Establishment Procedures of South Korea's National Agricultural and Fisheries Colleges."

At present, the Council of Agriculture has the "Top 100 Young Farmers" programme, the Pingtung County government has the "Yan Nan Fei" programme, Kaohsiung has the "Model Farmer Programme", and Tainan also has the "New Farmer Programme", but the central government has never enacted any legal basis related to young farmers engaging in farming, so it is hard to guarantee that a policy will not die with the person. Wang Jun-hao believes that at the very least there must be an administrative measure, which could be based on the Agricultural Development Act or the Rural Regeneration Act. With a central legal basis, county and city governments that are willing can then extend their own programmes, and resources can be used in a unified way.

As for the target group for assistance, Wang Jun-hao suggests following South Korea's example and starting mainly with second-generation farmers. After all, funding is limited and must be spent where it counts. Farmland is now expensive, and second-generation farmers usually have land or a farm, as well as a relatively basic understanding of farming.

In addition, in recent years the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences under South Korea's Rural Development Administration has conducted a two-year evaluation of the farm operator and successor system, investigating whether a farm already has a successor, when the operator expects to complete the transfer, and why there is no successor. Wang Jun-hao believes that Taiwan currently also lacks this kind of policy evaluation. In South Korea, for example, if a survey finds that farmers transfer their farms only in their 70s, then it is clear that succession planning should be directed at farm operators in their 70s.

"Succession requires preparation," he said gravely. South Korea has promoted new entrants to farming for so long, yet has only replenished 10 percent of its workforce. The average age of farmers in Taiwan is now in the 60s. If nothing is done, then in 5 years, when today's 60- and 70-year-olds can no longer work, it will be too late.

To read the full series of "Reports on Rural Labour Shortages," please click here

(This article was funded by the Cheng Chen Environmental Education Foundation for personnel expenses, but the foundation does not interfere at all with news topic selection or interview writing, ensuring journalistic independence.)