Jinju-si, Spring Farming Season Rural Labor Assistance Promotion

Focused Support for Farms Facing Labor Shortages During Farming Season

Jinju City in Gyeongnam Province has designated the period until June 30 as the time for rural labor assistance in full swing of the farming season, and is conducting spring rural labor assistance for farms struggling with labor shortages.

This spring rural labor assistance is being promoted to realize timely farming and revitalize rural areas by intensively supporting farms facing difficulties due to labor shortages caused by population decline and aging in rural areas, making it difficult to secure labor within the rural community.

Public officials from Jinju City Hall in Gyeongnam are visiting farms with labor shortages to participate in helping with the work.

‘Rural Labor Assistance Desks’ have been established and operated in all eup, myeon, and dong offices, and the support targets are farmers within Jinju City, including marginalized groups such as elderly farmers, disabled persons, women, and single-person households. Priority is given to farms that require a large amount of manual labor, such as fruit orchards and field crops. The main labor assistance tasks include manual-intensive agricultural work that cannot be replaced by machines, such as thinning persimmons and harvesting field crops.

The city stated that even excluding labor that farms can handle on their own, there is still a shortage of labor, and that a city-wide rural labor assistance movement will be promoted to encourage voluntary participation, with participation from public officials, military units, public institutions relocated to the Innovation City, and various volunteer organizations.

Currently, to foster participation in rural labor assistance, Jinju City Hall officials are visiting farms with labor shortages to help. On the 19th, Mayor Jo Gyu-il and about 40 employees from the Agricultural Technology Center worked hard thinning persimmons at a persimmon farm in Geomam-ri, Geumgok-myeon.

A city official said, “The number of farms struggling with labor shortages is increasing due to the aging rural population,” and added, “We ask related organizations and groups to actively participate in rural labor assistance.”