Jeonnam Province Puts Full Effort into Successful Settlement of the Public Interest Direct Payment System

‘Public Interest Direct Payment System Regional Briefing Session’ Held

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeonnam Province is putting all its efforts into the successful establishment of the ‘Public Interest Direct Payment System,’ which provides subsidies to farmers for the first time this year.

The Public Interest Direct Payment System was promoted to create public benefits such as food safety, environmental conservation, and rural maintenance through agricultural activities.

Jeonnam Province announced on the 10th that it held a ‘Public Interest Direct Payment System Regional Briefing Session’ at the Naju Culture and Arts Center.

About 600 people attended the briefing, including local government officials from cities, counties, and towns in Gwangju and Jeonnam, as well as representatives from the Agricultural Products Quality Management Service, Jeonnam Agricultural Research and Extension Services, Jeonnam Nonghyup, and Korea Rural Community Corporation.

With the passage of the Agricultural Income Compensation Act in the National Assembly last December, the basis for promoting the Public Interest Direct Payment System was established, and the project was explained to local governments such as cities, counties, and towns, as well as related organizations, while collecting opinions.

The Public Interest Direct Payment System is a core government agricultural policy.

It integrates and reorganizes six existing agricultural direct payments, including rice direct payments, field crop direct payments, and payments for disadvantaged areas, and is implemented by dividing them into basic direct payments and selective direct payments.

The basic direct payment is divided into small-scale farmer direct payments, which are paid regardless of area to small farms that meet certain requirements such as farming period, rural residence period, and off-farm income, and area direct payments, which are paid according to cultivation area segments.

The selective direct payment maintains the existing landscape conservation direct payments and eco-friendly agriculture direct payments, and can be received concurrently with the basic direct payments.

To receive the basic direct payment, farmers must fulfill compliance obligations such as maintaining the shape and function of farmland and adhering to standards for pesticide and chemical fertilizer use.

The province decided to actively promote the implementation details, basic direction, and reorganization purpose of the Public Interest Direct Payment System in line with the government’s schedule to prepare detailed implementation plans and revise subordinate laws by the end of April after collecting opinions from farmers, farmer organizations, and local governments.

The Public Interest Direct Payment System is scheduled for application registration in April to May, compliance obligation fulfillment and actual cultivation checks from July to October, and payment around the end of the year.

Gwak Hongseop, Director of the Food and Horticulture Division of Jeonnam Province, said, “The government plans to prepare the implementation plan for the Public Interest Direct Payment System by the end of April, conduct application and compliance checks around April, and pay direct payments at the end of the year. We will do our best to collect voices from the field, such as farmer organizations, and make recommendations to the government to ensure the system is established in a reasonable direction.”

Meanwhile, with the passage of the amendment to the Agricultural Income Compensation Act last December, the rice target price was set at 214,000 KRW. The variable direct payment for 2018 rice will be paid in January at 170,448 KRW per hectare (2,544 KRW per 80kg). The payment for 2019 rice will be decided in February after the rice price during the harvest period (October to January) is confirmed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.