Forest Service Provides 'Voucher Payment' to Forestry Workers to Support COVID-19 Recovery

Guide for Applying for Forestry Worker Vouchers. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service will provide vouchers to support small-scale and elderly forestry households struggling due to the spread of COVID-19.

The Korea Forest Service announced on the 10th that, following the confirmation of the '2021 First Supplementary Budget,' it will accept voucher applications from the 12th to the 30th of this month.

The vouchers are divided into the 'COVID-19 Overcome Forestry Voucher' and the 'Temporary Management Support Voucher for Small-scale Forestry Households,' with an expected support target of about 14,000 forestry households nationwide.

First, the COVID-19 Overcome Forestry Voucher will be provided as a prepaid card worth 1 million KRW to the heads of agricultural management entities producing mushrooms, wild vegetables, and medicinal herbs, whose sales have significantly decreased.

This voucher is available to forestry households whose sales in 2020 decreased compared to 2019, who registered as agricultural management entities with the Korea Forest Service before December 31, last year, and maintained the entity as of the 1st of this month. The Korea Forest Service expects about 4,000 forestry households nationwide to be eligible.

The Temporary Management Support Voucher for Small-scale Forestry Households will provide 300,000 KRW per household via prepaid card to about 10,000 forestry households cultivating short-term income forest products on forest land less than 0.5 hectares.

Eligible voucher recipients are forestry households registered as agricultural management entities with the Korea Forest Service or the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service before December 31 last year, maintaining the entity as of the 1st of this month, and residing in farming and fishing villages.

Voucher applications can be made by visiting the relevant city, county, or district (eup, myeon, dong) office in the address area of the agricultural management entity head within the designated period.

Heads of management entities who are finally selected and notified as voucher recipients can visit designated NongHyup branches to receive the prepaid card. The usage period is from the issuance date until August 31, and any unused balance after the deadline will expire.

Additionally, vouchers can only be used in industries specified in the announced guidelines, such as agriculture, tools, and fuel sales. Forestry households receiving vouchers cannot receive overlapping support such as the 'Emergency Employment Stability Subsidy (Ministry of Employment and Labor)' and the 'Small Business Owner Support Fund Plus (Ministry of SMEs and Startups)'.

However, even if vouchers are received, applications for the 'Temporary Livelihood Support Fund (Ministry of Health and Welfare)' are possible, and if selected, the difference excluding the voucher support amount will be paid.

Choi Byung-am, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, said, "We hope the forestry voucher support project will provide even a small help to small-scale and elderly forestry households struggling due to COVID-19," and added, "The Korea Forest Service will do its best to ensure that vouchers are promptly distributed to each forestry household."

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