Naju City, Jeollanam-do, promoted the 'Rural Love Labor Assistance' in collaboration with the private sector, government, and military this month, following the assistance to pear farmers in May.
According to the city on the 19th, about 900 people participated in this first half of the year’s rural labor assistance, including institutions relocated to the Innovation City (Korea Power Exchange, Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, Korea Creative Content Agency, Korea Rural Community Corporation), public officials from Jeollanam-do and Naju City, Naju Fire Station, Naju Volunteer Fire Brigade Association, the Air Force 1st Fighter Wing, and the NongHyup (National Agricultural Cooperative Federation).
The city expects this labor assistance to contribute to timely farming realization, boosting farmers’ morale, and revitalizing rural areas amid worsening labor shortages caused by rural population decline and aging.
Garlic and onion farmers, who suffered from leaf blight damage, said, “Since the small-scale fields and poor crop conditions made it costly to buy labor for harvesting, we were worried, but the labor assistance was a great help.”
Mayor Yoon Byung-tae expressed gratitude, saying, “I thank the Naju city officials who participated in the labor assistance despite the hot weather, and the fire station and Air Force unit soldiers who supported the farms after work. We will continue to prepare multifaceted solutions to alleviate rural labor shortages and do our best to create a more vibrant agricultural environment.”
The city operates three Rural Labor Brokerage Centers to respond to the chronic rural labor shortage, is expanding the public seasonal worker program that mediates foreign seasonal workers to farms, and is promoting various projects such as presenting labor cost standards for rural labor to stabilize farm management.
Naju = Kim Yuk-bong, Honam Reporting Headquarters, Asia Economy baekok@asiae.co.kr
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