The Spirit Plant Department is also responsible for supplying spirit rice and spirit fruit to the Spirit Food Department, spiritual medicine to the Pill-refining Department, and spirit grass for the Spirit Beasts in the Beast Department, among others.
All of these tasks require a lot of manpower.
Because of this, even the Minister of the Spirit Plant Department has to step in and work every day. They're always reporting to Rende Hall about their shortage of staff.
However, Rende Hall also has its hands tied. They could not just lower their hiring standards due to a staff shortage. They've already arranged for the Puppet Department to help out, but unfortunately, the puppets they produced can only handle simple tasks like farming. Their help is valuable, but not substantial enough.