Hwasun-gun Recruiting Candidates for 'Return-to-Farming Agricultural Startup and Housing Purchase Support Project'

[Hwasun=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Ji-woon] Jeonnam Hwasun-gun (Governor Gu Chung-gon) announced on the 1st that it is recruiting candidates for the ‘Return-to-Farming Agricultural Startup and Housing Purchase Support Project’ until the 12th of next month.

Agricultural startup funds are provided as loans with an interest rate of 2% (5-year grace period, 10-year installment repayment) up to a maximum of 300 million KRW, and housing purchase funds up to 75 million KRW.

The support targets are ‘returnees to farming’ who have lived continuously for more than one year in urban areas before moving to rural areas and have been residing in rural areas for less than five years, and ‘non-agricultural residents in rural areas’ who live in rural areas but are not engaged in agriculture.

Additionally, applicants must be household heads aged 65 or younger and have completed more than 100 hours of education related to return-to-farming and farming to apply.

There is no age limit for household heads for housing purchase funds, but non-agricultural residents in rural areas are excluded from the support targets.

Those who have jobs in industries other than agriculture at the time of application, holders of business registration certificates in other industries, those with a comprehensive income amount excluding agriculture of 37 million KRW or more in the year prior to application, those who have not fulfilled military service obligations, those with overdue loans at financial institutions, or those undergoing rehabilitation cannot receive support.

The county plans to select support recipients after reviewing the feasibility of the business plan, appropriateness of the loan repayment plan, awareness of business guidelines, and motivation for farming settlement.

An in-depth interview evaluation by the selection screening committee is mandatory, and applicants must attend the interview screening.

Application forms and other submission documents can be downloaded from the ‘Return-to-Farming and Return-to-Village’ information section on the Agricultural Technology Center website.

Since 2009 until last year, the county has selected 185 returnees to farming as recipients of startup funds and supported them, and this year, it is providing startup funds of about 2.9 billion KRW to 10 people to be used for agricultural startups and housing purchases.

An official from the Agricultural Technology Center said, “This project is designed to reduce the burden on new farmers and support their settlement in rural areas,” adding, “We hope many returnees to farming will use the startup funds as a stepping stone to grow into successful farmers.”

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