FFTC Agricultural Policy Platform (FFTC-AP)

Taiwan's Council of Agriculture (COA) said Thursday it will subsidize half of the quarantine costs for new migrant workers in the agricultural sector, as part of an effort to boost slow recruitment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chen Chun-yen (陳俊言), head of the COA's Department of Farmers' Service, told CNA that the government will refund employers 50 percent of the mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine costs, up to a maximum NT$15,000 (US$525.03) per person.

To obtain the refund, employers will have to apply to the COA within three months after the worker's quarantine ends, he said, but did not specify when the new plan will take effect.

Earlier this year, the COA raised the ceiling for the number of migrant farm workers in Taiwan, from 800 to 2,400, and also expanded the categories from only dairy farming to vegetable cultivation, land-based aquaculture, and livestock farming.

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