Foreign workers pick tomatoes on a farm in Australia. (Photo: Reuters)The government aims to offer three-year working visas bythe end of the year to citizens from the 10 ASEAN countries, Australia’sAgriculture Minister David Littleproud told reporters in Canberra on June 16.
With Australians reluctant to pick up what is oftenconsidered to be strenuous manual labour, reliance on foreigners has long beena crux to an industry that has seen a shrinking and aging local workforce.
The Australian government has attempted to attractbackpackers with the offer of a visa extension on the completion of a longerfarm stint. Still, their number has plunged from 160,000 pre-pandemic to lessthan 40,000 as the nation’s borders were closed to almost all non-residents,leaving some goods not sown or left to rot unpicked.
Labour shortages were flagged by the government as acontinuing “vulnerability” for the industry as the pandemic extends through2021, with Australia unlikely to loosen its strict border controls until wellinto next year.
With global food price inflation already tracking higheras farm supplies tighten, any hiccup in the supply chain could hit householdbudgets hard. The Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index, which tracks key farmproducts, surged last month to reach the highest level since 2012./.
VNA
