Taipei Times
Date: Feb 27, 2018
By: Wu Hsin-tien and Huang Yi-ching  /  Staff reporters

The nation’s agriculture sector faces a chronic shortage of workers, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said.

Of the total shortage of nearly 280,000, approximately 267,000 workers are needed for temporary jobs on farms and 15,000 are needed for routine work, data compiled by the council showed.

Taichung and Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin and Nantou counties are troubled by a more serious shortage, with about 147,000 workers needed on farms, 54.9 percent of the total shortage, COA Deputy Director-General Lee Tui-chih (李退之) said.

Tainan and Kaohsiung, and Chiayi and Pingtung counties lack about 94,000 farm workers, while the north and the east lack about 13,000 workers, he said.    [FULL  STORY]