Heading to Hapcheon to Help with Labor Shortages During the Busy Farming Season
During the busy farming season, a record-breaking 1,000 university student farmers have gathered to help. For rural fields, it's as if they have gained an army of reinforcements.
On the morning of the 24th, Pukyong National University (President Jang Youngsoo) held the 2024 Spring Rural Volunteer Activity Launch Ceremony at the university theater.
Organized by the Pukyong National University Student Council and the college student councils, around 1,000 Pukyong National University students participated in the rural volunteer activity, which will be held for three days and two nights from today until the 26th in the Hapcheon-gun area of Gyeongsangnam-do.
On the 24th, university students participating in rural labor assistance held a kickoff ceremony for their agricultural volunteer activities at the National Pukyong University.
It is reported that this is the largest number of students ever to participate in such an activity, all with the aim of helping rural communities facing labor shortages.
On this day, about 500 first-round participants held the launch ceremony early in the morning and departed for Hapcheon. The first group will volunteer for two days and one night starting today, while the second group of about 500 will participate for two days and one night starting on the 25th. The students were divided into two groups according to the size of the farms they will be assisting.
The students will be spread across 16 villages in Hapcheon-gun, helping with various tasks. These include labor-intensive jobs such as manually harvesting garlic scapes, as well as other farm work and village environment maintenance that have been neglected due to lack of manpower.
Upon hearing the news of the large-scale participation, Jung Chanho, head of the Busan branch of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, attended the launch ceremony and showed support by donating 3 million won and 1,000 beverages to the volunteers.
Kim Taegyu, Dean of Student Affairs at Pukyong National University, said, "I expect that through this experience, university students will feel the precious value of rural communities, help and be helped by the local community, and grow into wonderful young people who contribute to the region."
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