Chungnam Pushes for Introduction of Pension System for Retired Farmers: "Generational Change in Agriculture"

Chungnam Province is promoting the introduction of a pension system for elderly retired farmers (hereinafter referred to as the pension system). The purpose of the pension system is to enable young farmers to inherit and utilize the land owned by retired farmers. It serves as a bridge for generational change in the local agricultural sector.

According to Chungnam Province on the 17th, the pension system is designed to transfer management by having retired farmers aged 70 to 84 sell or lease their land to young farmers, while paying the retired farmers a pension composed of a basic pension and an area-based pension until the age of 85.

If selected as a beneficiary at age 70 and fully retired while entrusting the farmland to the Farmland Bank, one can receive a pension for up to 15 years until the age of 85.

Through this, elderly farmers can maintain their livelihood with a pension after retirement, and young farmers can secure the land necessary for starting agricultural businesses.

Chungnam Province expects that operating the pension system in this way will ultimately achieve generational change in the local agricultural community and accelerate the industrialization of agriculture's future.

According to last year's statistics on applicants for the Farmers and Fishermen Allowance, there are 95,989 farmers aged 70 to 84 in the province, and in an agricultural survey conducted in October last year, 62% of the 1,760 respondents answered "yes" to the question about their intention to retire.

This indicates the potential for realizing generational change among farmers through the introduction of the pension system.

However, the introduction of the pension system requires consultation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare regarding the establishment of a social security system. Accordingly, Chungnam Province submitted a consultation document to the Ministry of Health and Welfare last month for the introduction of the pension system, and expects that the pension system could be introduced as early as October this year.

On the same day, Chungnam Province also signed a business agreement with the Chungnam Headquarters of the Korea Rural Community Corporation to facilitate the smooth introduction of the pension system.

According to the agreement, both organizations plan to purchase and lease the farmland of retired farmers through the Korea Rural Community Corporation's Farmland Bank project, pay the purchase price or rent according to the prescribed procedures, and then prioritize leasing the farmland to young farmers participating in local youth agricultural policy projects.

Additionally, both organizations agreed to mutually cooperate on tasks such as reviewing the suitability of farmland for transfer and checking the continuation of retirement.

Oh Jin-gi, Director of the Agriculture, Forestry and Livestock Bureau of Chungnam Province, said, "Chungnam is showing a clear trend of a sharp decrease in the farming population and an increasing aging ratio recently. The introduction of the pension system will help prevent rural depopulation caused by these issues and contribute to generational change in agriculture."

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