On May 12th, Pusan National University(PNU) held a business agreement ceremony with the Busan Regional Headquarters of NongHyup to join the Rural Social Contribution Project. PNU decided to pitch in because of severe shortages of rural human resources.

　As urbanization progresses, the proportion of the elderly population in rural areas has increased due to the large outflow of the youth population, which has deepened labor shortages and aging. According to statistics released by the Statistics Korea, "Farmhouses in Busan, Ulsan, 2018", in the case of Busan from 2009 to 2018, the number of farmers decreased by 21.2%, and the number of farms managed by the elderly increased by 54.2%. Moreover, recently the shortage of workers became more severe as social distancing continued due to COVID-19, reducing volunteers and banning foreign workers. In fact, Jinju is carrying out a project to offer helping hands to resolve the shortage of manpower caused by restrictions on foreign seasonal workers entering the country. 

　In this situation, “the Rural Social Contribution Project” was carried forward to ensure stable agricultural production and farmers' income by securing manpower from university students. Many universities such as Duksung Women's University, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology, and Kangwon National University have already participated. In the case between the Gyeongnam Regional Headquarters of NongHyup and universities in Jinju, students visited farms in need of help and carried out farming work such as rice transplantation or harvesting crops. At this business agreement ceremony, The Busan Regional Headquarters of NongHyup announced it would select farmers who are shorthanded and establish specific farming plans and support various expenses.

　Park Seong-Jin (departments for international cooperation, PNU) “PNU should help as the shortage of manpower has become serious due to Corona. Through this agreement, students will be able to get volunteer scores that may help them get a job and contribute to the rural community.”