Suncheon-si, Apply for the Public Interest Direct Payment System This Year

Applications Accepted in Farmland Locations' Eup, Myeon, and Dong from Next Month 1st to May 31st

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Suncheon City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Heo Seok) announced on the 25th that applications for the Basic Public Interest Direct Payment System, now in its second year of implementation, will be accepted from April 1 to May 31 at the Eup, Myeon, and Dong administrative welfare centers located in farmland areas.

Eligible applicants are registered agricultural operators who have legitimately received rice, field, or conditionally disadvantaged direct payments at least once between 2016 and 2019, including existing recipients, successor farmers, full-time farmers, and new farmers who have cultivated at least 1,000㎡ for one year or more during the three years immediately prior to the direct payment application.

Eligible farmland includes land that has received direct payments at least once between 2017 and 2019.

The Public Interest Direct Payment System is a program that supports farmers with subsidies to enhance public interest functions such as environmental conservation, maintenance of rural communities, and food safety through agricultural activities. It is divided into small-scale direct payments and area-based direct payments.

Farmers with eligible farmland of 0.5 hectares or less can apply for small-scale direct payments. If they meet all eight small-scale payment requirements, including residing in rural areas for more than three years prior to the registration application year and engaging in farming for more than three years, they will receive 1.2 million KRW.

Farmers with eligible farmland of 0.5 hectares or more can apply for area-based direct payments, which are paid according to the application area using a regressive unit price (1 million KRW/ha to 2.05 million KRW/ha).

However, those with comprehensive income outside agriculture exceeding 37 million KRW annually, farmland used for agriculture less than 0.1 hectares, those whose application area decreased compared to the previous year without justifiable reason, those ordered to dispose of farmland, those occupying farmland without permission, and those who have not fully repaid recovery funds due to fraudulent receipt are excluded from payment eligibility.

Farmers must apply only for the actual cultivated area, excluding fallow areas such as gravesites, roads, cold storage, building sites/parking lots, and gardens within the cultivated land. Violation of this rule will result not only in exclusion of the fallow area from payment but also a possible 10% reduction in the total direct payment amount.

A Suncheon City official stated, “The Public Interest Direct Payment Project is a program that creates support for rural residents to actively participate and engage. We urge farmers to thoroughly understand the direct payment system and precautions and to apply without omission.”

For more detailed information about the Public Interest Direct Payment System, inquiries can be made at the Eup, Myeon, and Dong administrative welfare centers or the Suncheon City Department of Eco-friendly Agriculture.

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