Gwangju Nam-gu Promotes 'Eco-friendly Agricultural Products Certification Fee Support Project'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Nam-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (District Mayor Kim Byeong-nae) announced on the 6th that it will promote the ‘2020 Organic Agricultural Products Certification Fee Support Project’ to revitalize the cultivation of eco-friendly agricultural products in the district and increase the income of producers.

The organic agricultural products certification fee support project is a post-payment type project.

From January to the end of this year, farmers or farmer groups cultivating organic agricultural products can receive support for fees incurred during the certification process, including certification fees, auditor travel expenses, soil testing, and water and pesticide residue testing costs, when obtaining organic agricultural product certification from the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service or private certification agencies.

In other words, it is a ‘certify first, support later’ structure where costs are supported after obtaining organic agricultural product certification.

The reason Nam-gu undertakes the organic agricultural products certification fee support project every year is because the validity period of the certification for certified organic agricultural products is usually limited to within one year.

Accordingly, Nam-gu plans to invest 4.5 million KRW in the project budget to support certification costs for farmers and farmer groups who obtain organic agricultural product certification between the beginning and end of this year.

The support targets are farmers or farmer groups residing in or based in Gwangju, but the organic agricultural product cultivation site (plot) must be located within Nam-gu to be eligible for support.

This project is conducted on a first-come, first-served basis until the budget is exhausted, and up to 450,000 KRW will be supported per case, including a 30% self-payment cost.

Farmers or farmer groups wishing to receive certification fee support should complete the relevant documents and submit them to the administrative welfare center of the dong where the organic agricultural product cultivation site is located.

A Nam-gu official said, “We will do our best to promote the organic agricultural products certification fee support project to expand the area of organic agricultural product cultivation in the district and increase farmers’ income through the production of high-quality agricultural products.”

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