Bali Prepares To Send Farmers Abroad To Help Reduce Unemployment

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Tabanan Regional Government plans to send farmers and agricultural workers to work abroad in an effort to reduce the unemployment rate due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Vice Regent of Tabanan District, I Made Edi Wirawan said that this plan was initiated to provide more job opportunities for residents as many have been laid off since the inception of COVID-19.

“We plan to send farmworkers to a country that still needs more people to work in their agriculture sector, such as South Korea, where our people will be placed to work on planting fruits and vegetables,” Wirawan said on Tuesday (9/3).

Wirawan explained that he is currently communicating this program with officials from South Korea before signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with them. “We’re still communicating the details as to how long people will be working there and how many workers do they actually need,” Wirawan added during his visit to the Special Training Program (LLK) in Meliling village, Tabanan.

He’s optimistic that the regional government could train them with the skillset that would be required in LLK, and will ensure the South Korean government that the workers meet their requirements.

“It will bring a positive impact for the people to give them the opportunity to work in these tough times, especially with the much higher standard of income that they would earn from the South Korean government” Wirawan concluded.

Meanwhile, the Head of Tabanan Labor Agency and Resettlement, I Putu Santika confirmed that the central government is ready to provide qualified mentors to teach skillsets to people in Tabanan.

He’s also optimistic that this program would significantly reduce the unemployment rate in Tabanan that has reportedly reached 11,663 people in 2020.