January 29, 2019
A program to help drought-stricken farmers gain new skills and find off-farm work opportunities began at Kingaroy TAFE this week.
The five programs on offer provide training in a range of areas including workplace health and safety, chemicals, chainsaws, hospitality, Microsoft skills and pre-employment skills to help students gain employment in the construction, infrastructure and resource industries.
Training Minister Shannon Fentiman said the program aimed to provide training support to farmers and communities severely affected by drought.
The safety components of the program were designed to help farmers improve their skills and safety awareness, which should result in improvements in these areas once the farms were able to provide sustainable revenues again.
“In tough times we need to work together and innovate,” Ms Fentiman said.
“We want to ensure we can support our farmers by providing training opportunities to improve their farming operations and increase opportunities for off-farm income.”
The first Rural Support Training Program was delivered in Gatton on December 10–14 and received positive participant feedback.
“The success of the first program has seen increased inquiry levels for this round of the program,” Ms Fentiman said.
TAFE Queensland chief executive Mary Campbell said the training would help farmers engage with their local communities and increase off-farm revenue opportunities.
“The drought has affected the majority of Queensland, and with no immediate signs of reprieve,” Ms Campbell said.
“We believe offering genuine support to farmers is a valuable investment to help them enhance their skills and value add to their business in the future.
“Farmers are kept busy with a continuous body of work to maintain their farms and they need flexible training, which is why we’ve worked with the Queensland Government to develop the Rural Support Training Program.”
The programs are short-term and enable farmers to accommodate daily travel time and schedule farm tasks before and after the classes.
At this stage, the programs have been scheduled until mid-April.
“We will continue to add programs as locations are negotiated with local communities,” Ms Campbell said.
The Rural Support Training Program is an initiative of the State Government’s Regional Skills Adjustment Strategy.
For more information about the Rural Support Training Programs, visit the TAFE website
