Hwasun-gun Receives Positive Response for Reducing Operating Costs in Agricultural Machinery Rental Business

[Hwasun=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Young-gyun] Hwasun County, Jeollanam-do (Governor Gu Chung-gon) announced on the 11th that the agricultural machinery rental business has received great response due to its significant effectiveness in alleviating rural aging, labor shortages, and reducing management costs.

The agricultural machinery rental business has become an indispensable service for farmers' farming activities. Since its inception in 2009, satisfaction among farming households has been high, leading to continuous increases in the number of rented machines, rental days, and renting households.

Last year, the cumulative number of rentals reached 6,002, a 35% increase compared to the previous year (4,439), and nearly doubled compared to 2017 (3,167).

As the number of rentals and users increased, the county expanded the scale of the business by increasing the number of rental agricultural machines, budget, and customized on-site services, thereby enhancing satisfaction.

The Agricultural Machinery Rental Office provides agricultural machinery rental services, rental fee reductions in response to COVID-19, agricultural machinery safety education to prevent accidents and improve usage rates, and mobile repair training.

Previously, the county was selected as an ‘Excellent National Rental Office’ for three consecutive years in the ‘National Agricultural Machinery Rental Business Operation Evaluation’ conducted annually by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, targeting 143 rental offices operated by cities and counties nationwide.

Being selected as an excellent office secured a total project budget of 340 million KRW, including 200 million KRW for purchasing outdated agricultural machinery and 140 million KRW for purchasing women-friendly agricultural machinery, enabling business expansion.

The county started the agricultural machinery rental business in 2009 to increase the mechanization rate of farming operations and reduce farmers' burden of purchasing agricultural machinery. The number of rentals has increased annually, with last year's rentals reaching 6,002, a 35% increase compared to the previous year, and rental days increasing by 58% to 7,049 days.

The ‘On-site Delivery Service for Rental Agricultural Machinery’ aimed at saving time and costs was performed 534 times, a 47% increase compared to 362 times in 2019.

The on-site delivery service is highly appreciated as it greatly helps vulnerable farming groups such as elderly households, women farmers, and returnees to farming. Every year, officials from other regional cities and counties visit the county to benchmark the delivery service system.

The Agricultural Machinery Rental Office operates from March to November, including public holidays, to allow farmers to rent agricultural machinery anytime during the farming season.

The rental fee reduction policy, promoted to support farmers facing difficulties such as decreased agricultural product sales revenue, reduced farm income, and labor shortages due to a decline in foreign workers amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, has also received very positive responses.

From March to December last year, there were 5,255 cases of rental fee reductions, providing a total of 120 million KRW in rental fee reductions to 3,207 farming households. During this period, usage increased by 40% and rental days by 49% compared to the previous year.

The county has extended the rental fee reduction period until June 30.

A county official stated, “We have invested 400 million KRW over the past two years to replace 84 units of 24 types of old rental agricultural machinery to ensure farmers do not experience inconvenience. We are doing our best in managing, repairing, and maintaining agricultural machinery. We will also strengthen the prompt introduction of new agricultural machinery needed for farming and agricultural machinery safety education to protect the lives and property of farmers.”

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