Editor's note: The outflow of population from rural Taiwan is growing more serious by the day, and the problem of insufficient rural labor has long defied solution. On the 13th, the Council of Agriculture announced that a trial program to bring in agricultural foreign workers would begin next year, sparking outside concern. The Taiwan Rural Front issued a statement criticizing the policy as an attempt to foster capital-intensive agriculture, disregarding the production and management of Taiwan's small farmers and depriving consumers of the right to diverse choices.

Regarding the seasonal and long-term labor shortage in Taiwan's agriculture, the Council of Agriculture stated that it would give priority to adjusting the industry, improving working environments, and developing labor-saving equipment, and would consult with the Ministry of Labor on a trial application to bring in agricultural foreign workers. At present, it is assessing a trial next year that would give priority to industries such as tea and flowers, in accordance with Article 42 of the Employment Service Act: "To protect the right of citizens to work, the employment of foreigners shall not impede the employment opportunities, working conditions, national economic development and social stability of citizens, and the right of citizens to work shall be protected as a priority."

The Taiwan Rural Front pointed out that the agricultural labor shortage is merely a "false issue" manufactured by the Council of Agriculture, and that the training of local agricultural labor should be rebuilt rather than simply importing foreign workers; moreover, the Council of Agriculture's importation of agricultural foreign workers serves only capital-intensive farms by lowering their personnel costs, which will double the exploitation of both domestic and foreign workers. In response, the Rural Front called on the Council of Agriculture to immediately change its long-standing policy of favoring capitalists and to support Taiwan's family farms, which form the backbone of agriculture.

To understand the actual labor shortage situation and the agricultural sector's views on the foreign worker issue, NewsMarket interviewed a variety of different farmers, including those growing different crops, operating at different scales, and facing different labor shortage conditions, and compiled the current state of the labor shortage (this article), along with their views on the policy (please read "Rural Labor Shortage Series Part 5: Doubts Over the Agricultural Foreign Worker Policy, Farmers Offer Suggestions")

────────────────────────────────────────

Summary of Views on Year-Round Labor Shortages

Chen Qin-quan, flower farmer in Houli, Taichung:

Looking at flowers such as Taiwan's Oncidium orchids, anthuriums, and Phalaenopsis orchids, the labor shortage is almost year-round. Flowers are a labor-intensive industry and badly need workers, but young people in Taiwan have no interest in agriculture, and we often have to plead with people in their 70s and 80s for help. In fact, if Taiwanese workers could be hired, from a farmer's point of view, we would certainly want to give the work to Taiwanese farmers, but the key point is that we cannot find them, and Taiwan's young people are all unwilling to do it!

Cai Yi-hong, farmer at Shijia Farm in Dongshi:

Shijia Organic Farm in Dongshi Township mostly grows miscellaneous grain crops such as soybeans, corn, black beans, and wheat. The farm handles everything itself, from production, processing, and packaging to marketing, so it faces labor shortages year-round. At present, the farm's three local workers have ages that add up to more than 200 years. In addition, rural residents usually help one another, with a daily wage ranging from 800 to 1,000 yuan; if the work is just ordinary weeding, the wage is 800 yuan, and for harvesting it is 1,000 yuan.

However, rather than opening up to foreign workers, I would encourage young people in Taiwan to return to the countryside to farm. Not only can they live with their parents and save on rent, but living costs are also cheaper, and average monthly income is at least 30,000. For example, growing vegetables on one hectare yields a net profit of about 80,000 yuan over three months, and since the farm does not require work every day, there are at least 20 free days in those three months to help out at other farms at 1,000 yuan a day, earning at least another 20,000 yuan.

Su Jian-jun, miscellaneous grain farmer in Tainan:

Compared with other crops, growing miscellaneous grains is already relatively highly mechanized, yet even we face a severe labor shortage, let alone other crops such as potatoes and sesame. I have watched opposition to agricultural foreign workers since I was a child, but for more than 20 years the problem of insufficient rural labor has still not been solved.

Vegetable farmer Li Wen-cheng:

We rotate bok choy and cabbage year-round, and the labor shortage is a long-term problem, and quite a serious one. Fewer and fewer people in Taiwan are willing to earn this kind of wage, and sometimes we have to hire women in their 70s or foreign brides. However, harvesting, planting vegetables, and packing are all just one- or two-day jobs, and we probably only need workers two or three days a week. If we had to hire long-term workers, we could not afford it either. We are not like big factories that have dormitories to house them; they all live in their own homes. If we had to take care of housing for foreign workers and the wage was not any cheaper, there would really be no need! On the other hand, it would be more ideal if there were a unit for applying for manpower, where you could apply a few days in advance for the workers you need, and on the day they would be driven to the farm and leave after finishing the work.

Summary of Views on Seasonal Labor Shortages

Guo Shu-fen, Mailiao Fruit and Vegetable Production Cooperative:

In the fields of Mailiao Township in Yunlin County, it is very obvious that farmers in their 50s count as young farmers, while 60 and 70 is the normal age for a farmer. Because the Mailiao area grows rice and peanuts in summer, the labor shortage problem is not yet serious, but once winter comes, the harvest seasons for iceberg lettuce and garlic clash, and everyone is simply "fighting over" workers. Moreover, in the past year or two, harvest workers' wages have risen sharply: three years ago the daily wage was 800 yuan, and now it is 1,000 yuan a day, yet income has not increased correspondingly. Therefore, I am in favor of the policy of opening up agriculture to foreign workers.

But every agricultural product is seasonal, and each production area needs workers at different times; it is not that there is a labor shortage all year round. Here, for example, we need workers for only about seven months a year. Someone once proposed setting up a labor cooperative so that each production area's manager could register the manpower needed online, but fairness issues might arise, and it has still not been put into practice to this day.

Zhu Chang-hui, longan farmer in Xidiyao:

Every year when the longan harvest season comes, almost every household in Zhongliao is harvesting, every farm is short of workers, and we have no choice but to ask relatives and friends everywhere for help. In the past, the daily wage was 1,500 yuan, but now it is getting harder and harder to find workers! I have even heard that some farmers are willing to pay 2,500 yuan a day and still cannot find anyone to do the work.

As for the policy of opening agriculture to foreign workers, I think it is very unrealistic. Ordinary farmers simply cannot afford foreign workers' food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Moreover, the longan harvest period is only 20 days to a month, and for that short month, arranging workers' food and lodging is really too much trouble and worry! We are not running a vocational training center, so there is really no need!

In addition, longan trees are tall, and the slopes around Zhongliao are steep. Even city people find walking there strenuous, so even if foreign workers came, in summer, with the hot weather, many mosquitoes and insects, and the danger of climbing trees, would foreign workers really be willing to do it? They might not even dare to climb the trees. Therefore, I believe these problems still have to be solved by our own efforts, such as trying to plant trees in flatter places or dwarfing the longan trees, so that harvesting is safe and ordinary people can help, which is more practical.

Lin Neng-de, general manager of the Lugu Township Dongding Tea Production Cooperative:

For tea, labor shortages are most likely during the harvest periods for spring tea, autumn tea, and winter tea, roughly between October and March each year. Summer tea fetches a lower price, so it is generally pruned and not harvested, or used to make black tea and other specialty teas. Tea is mostly harvested five times a year; dividing by altitude, high-altitude areas harvest about three times a year, while lower areas can harvest seven times a year.

In fact, the main problem with labor shortages in tea gardens is not a lack of workers, but that everyone harvests at the same time, which creates the shortage. Once the prime harvest period for tea leaves passes, the leaves age day by day, and both quality and price suffer, so the tea harvest timing cannot wait. For example, this year the weather during the tea-picking period was unfavorable, and tea garden pickers were all used on a rotating basis. If the workers scheduled for one's own tea garden happened to encounter rain, we would usually still rather let them pick, because aged tea leaves are worse than harvesting in the rain.

Tea pickers' wages are generally calculated by the amount harvested, usually 60 yuan per kilogram. A nimble worker can harvest about 80 kilograms a day, while a slower one harvests 30 or 40 kilograms, so the daily wage ranges from about 1,800 to 4,800. At present, most are women over 60, and some are even in their 80s. On the other hand, because tea picking is paid by the piece rather than by the hour, women workers are also unwilling to harvest at some tea gardens where the tea is poorly grown.

Among Taiwan's tea farmers, the average planting area is not large, at most a bit over one hectare, and small farmers still predominate. Keeping workers is not easy, and only farmers with more than ten hectares are more likely to manage it.

Yang Yu-fan, pineapple grower on six fen of land:

There is bound to be a labor shortage during the fruit production season. During the peak pineapple season, I cannot find workers in Guanmiao and have to go to Xinhua to find them, and good workers are always grabbed first. For young people returning home, they must first find the lead foreman who brings the workers; otherwise, ordinary workers do not need my job either. Without relying on my father's local connections, it is really hard for a young person returning home to hire workers.
In addition, there is another kind of migratory worker in rural areas. For example, pineapples are first planted starting in Pingtung, and these workers go south first to help with planting, then move all the way north, and afterward return to Pingtung to fertilize, following the same route north again. But such workers usually have long-term regular employers, and ordinary young people returning home cannot hire them either.

Huang Cheng-qing, general manager of the Yujing District Farmers' Association in Tainan:

The production periods of agricultural products are concentrated. For mangoes in Yujing District, everyone's flowering and fruiting times are the same, mainly concentrated between April, May, and August, when mangoes need bagging, but the shortage of workers is severe. Even at a daily wage of 1,500 yuan, having money does not necessarily mean you can hire workers, creating a situation of "worker grabbing." Although some worry that this policy will affect domestic workers, if Taiwanese people are willing to do the work, Taiwanese workers will of course be given priority; the problem is that now even at 1,500 yuan a day, young Taiwanese are unwilling to do it, so there is no issue of depriving domestic workers of their rights at all!

Furthermore, the main mango harvest period is about 30 days. If the price of fresh fruit is to be kept from falling due to excessive yields, the fruit must be processed into dried mango, but now even peeling mangoes often faces a labor shortage, so the supply of dried mango has remained persistently short of demand, and it is impossible to stabilize the price of fresh mangoes through processing. (Series to be continued)

To read all the articles in the "Rural Labor Shortage Series," please click here

(This article was funded by the Jianzhen Environmental Education Foundation specifically for personnel costs, but with absolutely no interference in news topic selection or interview writing, ensuring journalistic independence.)