The Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station (TTDARES) of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan held a training course for new farm laborers from July 26 to 28, 2020. The lectures were given by TTDARES researchers from various fields to teach trainees basic farming knowledge and skills so that they may be better able to support agricultural activity and improve on the problem of a lack of hired farm workers.

The TTDARES stated that in order to address the lack of hired farm workers in Taitung, the Taimali Skilled Farm Laborer Task Force was established in August 2017 to provide farmers with needed help. However, as there is still a shortage, more such laborers are needed. The course included instruction on cultivation, management, fertilization, disease/pest control, and machinery use/maintenance for sugar apples, roselles, grains, and pitaya (dragon fruit). There was also a series of hands-on exercises to ensure trainees had indeed learned and would be able to properly undertake their work. The event is sure to allow the laborers to be more effective, bringing new life to the field and remedying the problem of a lack of laborers.