Muan-gun to Implement Public Interest Direct Payment System Starting May

Small-scale Farmer Direct Payment of 1.2 Million KRW per Household Annually, Area-based Direct Payment Divided into 3 Tiers

Exterior view of Muan-gun Office (Photo by Muan-gun)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] Muan-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Kim San) announced on the 29th that applications for the newly revised Agricultural and Rural Public Interest Function Enhancement Direct Payment System (hereinafter referred to as the Public Interest Direct Payment System) will be accepted at the town and township offices starting in May.

The newly revised Public Interest Direct Payment System is based on the purpose of promoting public interest such as environmental conservation, maintenance of rural communities, and food safety through agricultural activities. It integrates the existing rice and field direct payment system and the disadvantaged area direct payment system to provide subsidies.

The Public Interest Direct Payment System is divided into a fixed payment of 1.2 million KRW for small-scale farmers with a cultivated area of 0.1 to 0.5 hectares or less, regardless of area, and an area-based direct payment that provides subsidies differentially according to the cultivated area.

The criteria for small-scale direct payment are as follows: cultivated farmland area of 0.5 hectares or less, total farmland ownership area of all household members less than 1.55 hectares, residence period in rural areas of 3 years or more, farming engagement period of 3 years or more, comprehensive income from non-agricultural sources less than 20 million KRW, comprehensive income of all household members less than 45 million KRW, livestock income less than 56 million KRW, and facility cultivation income less than 38 million KRW.

The area-based direct payment is provided in three stages according to farmland area segments: ‘Agricultural Promotion Area rice and fields, non-promotion area rice, non-promotion area fields’.

A Muan-gun official said, “Although this is the first time for the ‘Public Interest Type Direct Payment System,’ we will do our best to quickly establish the system and support direct payments. To disperse applications due to COVID-19, applications are being accepted by dividing the schedule by village, so we ask farmers to apply according to the schedule.”

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