Boseong-gun Volunteers to Help Tea Leaf Picking... Supporting Solutions to Labor Shortage

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Yong-chul] On the 23rd, more than 40 public officials and local volunteers in Boseong-gun, Jeollanam-do visited tea plantations in Yeongcheon-ri, Hoecheon-myeon to volunteer in tea leaf picking.

Boseong-gun, known for its many tea farms, requires a large workforce for tea leaf picking and tea field management as the harvest of the highest quality new tea leaves begins in earnest from April.

However, due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, it has become difficult for foreign workers to enter the country, and social distancing measures have made it hard to find domestic workers, causing a severe labor shortage.

To share the burden of these farmers, the county has been conducting rural labor assistance by public officials, such as ‘planting tea seedlings’ and ‘thinning kiwi flower buds.’

A representative of the tea farming households said, “The tea leaves harvested from April to May are premium quality that must be picked by hand, and we were very worried about finding labor. We are grateful that so many people have come to help, easing our concerns.”

Meanwhile, ahead of the busy farming season, Boseong-gun operates a ‘labor assistance desk’ to share the burden with farmers and prevent disruptions to farming plans due to labor shortages.

Additionally, the county has provided early payment of 5.2 billion KRW in public subsidies for farmers and fishermen, and runs various support programs such as special discount events on tea products at the Boseong Mall, an online direct marketplace for local agricultural specialties.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.