Sancheong-gun to Implement 'Forestry Public Interest Direct Payment System' Starting October

Registration of Forest Agricultural Management Entities Must Be Completed by May

Sancheong-gun Chahwang-myeon wild garlic leaf harvesting site.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] From October, the ‘Forestry Public Interest Direct Payment System’ will be implemented in Sancheong-gun, Gyeongnam.

Sancheong-gun has decided to provide direct payments to forestry workers who meet the payment requirements to compensate for the low income of forestry households and secure the public functions of forests.

Support is divided into forest product production and afforestation, with forest product production operated through small-scale forestry household direct payments and area direct payments, similar to the current agricultural sector’s public interest direct payment system.

The support target is forest land registered as an agricultural management entity from April 1, 2019, to September 30 of this year.

Applications for forestry direct payments will be accepted in June, and agricultural management entity registration for forest land must be completed by the end of May.

Management entity registration can be done by visiting the local forestry office or national forest management office in charge of the address directly, or by mail, fax, or online through the Sancheong-gun Forestry Cooperative.

A county official said, “The Forestry Public Interest Direct Payment System will provide partial compensation for the public contributions made by forestry workers through their forestry activities,” adding, “Sancheong-gun supports management entity registration through the Forestry Cooperative and hopes forestry management entities will apply to avoid missing out on direct payments.”

Sancheong-gun is promoting forest income increase projects such as support for forest product commercialization and distribution infrastructure, and eco-friendly forest product cultivation management to establish stable forest businesses and increase forestry workers’ income.

The county is one of the major domestic production areas of dried persimmons, a representative forest income crop. About 1,300 farms produce approximately 2,700 tons of dried persimmons, generating income worth around 40 billion KRW.

Additionally, about 200 local farms cultivate wild garlic, bracken, and aster scaber, earning an annual income of 1.5 billion KRW from wild vegetables.

Recently, the ‘thornless Euonymus distribution project,’ which is gaining attention as a new forest income crop, is also being actively promoted.

The Sancheong-gun Forestry Cooperative is also striving to nurture forest resources and increase forest owners’ income through projects such as the Leading Forest Management Complex. Through systematic and continuous forest management plans, it is preparing the production base for forest products to create forest income for forest owners and forestry workers.

In 2021, this cooperative was selected as the best cooperative nationwide for three consecutive years and as an excellent cooperative in member management in the forest management guidance project evaluation hosted by the Korea Federation of Forest Cooperatives.

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