4000 rural workers needed in Central Otago

Four thousand seasonal vineyard and orchard workers were needed to fill jobs in Central Otago this summer - a dramatic increase on last summer, Seasonal Solutions director Basil Goodman said today.

"We have 2500 positions available in the Central Otago horticulture and viticulture industries this season but to have these positions full for the whole season, from October to May, we need 4000 employees," Mr Goodman said.

There had been a dramatic increase in the number of jobs available compared with last summer when Seasonal Solutions placed 2170 people in positions from January to May, most of them overseas tourists. Of those just 950 workers were Kiwis.

More than 3000 of this summer's jobs would have to be filled by overseas workers with Kiwi employee numbers expected to remain static.

Most of the extra demand was because of a huge increase in the number of vineyards in the area with total Central Otago plantings now approaching 2000ha, Mr Goodman said.

Seasonal Solutions had been actively targeting the Czech Republic, Germany and Brazil, where most of its overseas workforce came from.