Muan County's Public Seasonal Workers Program Wins Excellence Award in National Evaluation

Systematic Operation Eases Rural Labor Shortages

Public Seasonal Workers Program of Muan County Awarded Excellence Prize in National Best Practice Evaluation. Photo by Muan County

On December 16, Muan County in South Jeolla Province was awarded the Excellence Prize in the Public Seasonal Workers category at the "2025 Rural Manpower Brokerage Center Best Practice Performance Presentation," hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

This performance presentation, now in its second year, was held in Daejeon Metropolitan City. A panel of expert judges comprehensively evaluated brokerage performance, promotional achievements, and business effectiveness of rural manpower brokerage centers operated by local governments nationwide, selecting the best cities and counties.

There are a total of 279 rural manpower brokerage centers operating across the country. Of these, 10 centers (5 public, 5 rural) were selected through the first round of evaluation. After case presentations and in-depth reviews by each city and county, Muan County was ultimately named as an outstanding city/county.

The Rural Manpower Brokerage Center is a system designed to alleviate labor shortages in rural areas by connecting foreign seasonal workers and domestic labor to farms. It is operated in two types: public and rural.

Since 2024, the Public Seasonal Workers Program in Muan County has been operated by the Jeonnam Southwest Vegetable Agricultural Cooperative (headed by Bae Jeongseop) under consignment. Despite being in its second year of operation, the program received high marks for its systematic and stable manpower supply system and effective management of foreign seasonal workers using agricultural worker dormitories, which have contributed significantly to resolving rural labor shortages.

Lee Jaekwang, Head of the Agricultural Policy Division of Muan County, stated, "This evaluation was a meaningful opportunity to share a variety of outstanding cases from across the country," and added, "I would like to thank the Jeonnam Southwest Vegetable Agricultural Cooperative for operating the public seasonal workers program stably despite difficult circumstances." He continued, "Next year, we will make every effort to actively gather feedback from farms and provide manpower brokerage tailored to their needs."

Meanwhile, the county's public seasonal workers program supplied 40 Lao seasonal workers to rural areas this year, and plans to expand the number to 50 next year. The county also plans to strengthen its cooperation system with local agricultural cooperatives to encourage more regional cooperatives to participate in the public seasonal workers program in the future.