The agricultural technology team is officially formed, with professional experts earning up to 52,000 yuan per month

The Professional Agricultural Technology Team has officially been established! To ease the problem of seasonal labor shortages, the Council of Agriculture (COA) launched pilot professional agricultural technology teams in three counties and cities: Shigang in Taichung, Dashu in Kaohsiung, and Nanzhou in Pingtung. After 11 days of technical training in grafting, pruning, bagging, flower thinning, fertilizing, and harvesting, 90 qualified agricultural masters were selected on merit, in the hope of assisting with farming operations for high-skill crops such as high-graft pears, grapes, wax apples (bell fruit), mangoes, and jujubes. COA Deputy Minister Chen Chi-chung further stated that, by estimate, if agricultural masters work 22 to 24 days per month, their monthly salary could reach as high as 52,000 yuan.

Chen Chi-chung: The COA will exhaust every means to solve the labor shortage

Currently these 90 prospective agricultural masters rely entirely on regional farmers' associations as the dispatch units. Chen Chi-chung said that, as far as he understands, the agricultural masters have only just come on line, yet their work is already booked through July; "It's really a lot like arranging a shift schedule." Chung Yu-chen of the Pingtung Nanzhou team said that regional farmers' associations also look at which agricultural master is closer to the farm that has submitted an application, and send that master over to support it; indeed, quite a lot of work has already been scheduled now.

But previously, the agricultural service teams frequently reported cases of hired workers adapting poorly. Will these 90 agricultural technology masters who passed the assessment be able to adapt well in the future? Huang Chi-yung, an agricultural technology master in the Taichung Shigang team who was formerly a computer engineer, said that being an engineer in the past was also very stressful, but perhaps life had reached a stage where he wanted to switch tracks, "Now I just find joy in learning." The current lifestyle of rising at sunrise and resting at sunset may be somewhat different from the past, "but this might actually be the normal way." That is how Huang Chi-yung faces the change in his life and work patterns.

"The COA will certainly exhaust every possible means to solve the agricultural labor shortage!" Chen Chi-chung promised; at present these three professional agricultural technology teams are only a beginning, and Hung Chung-hsiu also said, "In the future there will absolutely be a fourth and a fifth agricultural technology team." This is the unchanging general direction, but as for where they will be established afterward? That has not yet been decided; everything must first depend on how these three technology teams mesh and adapt before a decision is made.

[Fruit farms short on labor can call the regional farmers' associations for inquiries]
Shigang District Farmers' Association, Taichung City: 04-2572-1246
Dashu District Farmers' Association, Kaohsiung City: 07-656-101
Nanzhou Township Farmers' Association, Pingtung County: 08-864-1396