'From Startup Farmers to Retired Farmers' Rural Development Administration Invests 1.4 Trillion Won in Farmland Bank Project

February Launch of the Farmland Bank Management Agency

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyewon] The Korea Rural Community Corporation announced on the 26th that it will invest 1.4 trillion won in the farmland bank project this year, a 6% increase compared to the previous year.

Started in 1990 as a farmland scale-up project, the farmland bank project is a comprehensive farmland management system in which the corporation purchases or leases farmland from retired farmers, those having difficulty farming their own land, or those who have migrated to cities, and sells or leases the farmland to start-up farmers and agricultural workers who need farmland.

Reflecting the farmland bank slogan selected through a public contest last year, "Youth愛 Hope, Old Age愛 Happiness, Agriculture愛 Future," the largest portion of the budget this year is allocated to the "Customized Farmland Support Project."

The customized farmland support project, which accounts for the largest share (812.4 billion won) of the total budget, consists of the public rental farmland purchase project that buys farmland to support long-term leasing and the farmland scale-up project that supports the expansion of farmers' farming scale. The government has supported farmers with approximately 190,000 hectares of farmland through these two projects.

3.077 trillion won will be invested in the "Management Recovery Support Farmland Purchase Project" for farms facing management crises due to natural disasters or debt.

This project has the advantage that farms which sold farmland to the corporation to repay debts can lease it long-term for up to 10 years and repurchase it later. Since the project began, about 2,000 farms have received management support through this program.

2.106 trillion won will be invested in the "Farmland Pension Project," which provides pensions for stable old-age life by using farmland owned by elderly farmers as collateral. Since its introduction in 2011, over 19,000 people have joined the project and receive an average monthly pension of 950,000 won.

Starting this year, a preferential product has been introduced that provides additional monthly payments to low-income farmers and long-term farmers, and with the enrollment age expanded to 60 and above, the number of subscribers is expected to increase.

Kim Insik, president of the Korea Rural Community Corporation, stated, "Through customized farmland bank support tailored to life stages, young farmers will cultivate their future in rural areas, and seniors will enjoy a healthy life in rural communities, realizing the value of sustainable agricultural policy." He added, "We will do our best to restore the unique function of farmland that produces food for the nation by creating synergy linked with the existing farmland bank project through the early establishment of the Farmland Bank Management Institute, which will be launched this time."

The Farmland Bank Management Institute will be launched on the 18th of next month. A corporation official said, "By supporting local governments' farmland management tasks through a farmland continuous management survey project, beyond the existing farmland bank project-centered system, it will perform the role of a comprehensive farmland management organization."

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