Hwasun-gun Receives Positive Response for Alleviating Labor Shortage in Agricultural Machinery Rental Business

Published 03 Jan.2022 12:46(KST)

[Hwasun=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Ji-woon] Jeonnam Hwasun-gun (Governor Gu Chung-gon) announced on the 3rd that the agricultural machinery rental project it is promoting has been highly effective in alleviating labor shortages and reducing farm management costs, receiving great response.

The agricultural machinery rental project has become an indispensable business for farmers' farming activities, and since the project started in 2009, the rental performance at rental offices, rental days, and the number of user farms have continuously increased.

Last year, the cumulative number of rentals was 6,782, an 8% increase compared to the previous year (6,247), and nearly doubled compared to 2018 (3,593).

As the number of rentals and users increased, the county has strengthened field-customized rental services and expanded convenience facilities for farm users to enhance farm satisfaction.

The county currently operates two locations (main office and branch office) and owns 394 units of 66 types of agricultural machinery for rental business.

With rental performance increasing every year, the number of rentals in 2021 was 6,782 times, and the number of usage days was 7,749 days, both increasing by 8% compared to the previous year.

Efforts are also being made to replace outdated rental agricultural machinery to increase the turnover rate of agricultural machinery rentals.

In 2020, after being selected as an excellent agricultural machinery rental office, 340 million KRW was invested to purchase and deploy 52 units of 21 types.

Last year, it was selected as an excellent city/county in the evaluation of agricultural machinery rental offices conducted nationwide for 143 cities and counties, securing 200 million KRW in project funds this year.

To save farmers' time and costs, an on-site delivery service for rental agricultural machinery is provided, increasing satisfaction.

Policies to enhance citizens' income and convenience, such as a 50% rental fee reduction policy in response to the COVID-19 crisis, extended working hours during busy farming seasons, and operation of high-temperature sterilization washing facilities, are also being implemented.

To preserve farm income and solve labor shortages due to the decrease of foreign workers engaged in agriculture, from March 2020, rental fees amounting to 210 million KRW were reduced for 2,067 farms with 12,000 rental instances.

To allow farmers to rent agricultural machinery anytime during the farming season, rental offices have been operated from March to November every year, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on holidays.

A high-temperature sterilization washing facility for agricultural machinery was additionally installed at the Dongbok branch office to provide convenience by allowing farmers to return machinery without separate cleaning after use.

An official from the Agricultural Technology Center said, “In the past three years, we have invested 780 million KRW to replace 119 units of 24 types of outdated agricultural machinery and are doing our best to manage, repair, and maintain rental agricultural machinery to ensure no inconvenience in use. We will also strengthen the rapid introduction of new agricultural machinery necessary for farming work and agricultural machinery safety education to protect the lives and property of farmers.”