Assemblyman Seo Samsuk: "Farmers' Voices Are Missing in Government Policies"

Survey of 1,094 National Nonghyup Members

64% Say Fukushima Contaminated Water Discharge Will Affect Agricultural Products

59% Pessimistic About Agriculture's Future in 10 Years... Responses Increase with Longer Agricultural Experience

A survey conducted among 1,094 National Agricultural Cooperative Federation members nationwide found that while improving the self-sufficiency rate is important for enhancing food security, achieving the government’s set targets is seen as difficult. Effective alternatives are needed to meet the self-sufficiency rate goals.

According to the ‘2023 Agricultural Workers Opinion Survey Report’ released on the 11th by Seo Sam-seok, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Yeongam, Muan, Sinan), 69.8% of farmers responded that increasing the self-sufficiency rate of major food crops is important to secure food security. However, when asked about the possibility of achieving the food self-sufficiency rate target, 62.2% answered that it was impossible.

Regarding opinions on projects to improve the food self-sufficiency rate, 44.4% answered that expanding direct payments for double cropping of rice paddies and strategic crops would be effective, and 41.9% said support for cultivating non-rice crops in paddies would have a significant effect. In contrast, only 30.8% believed that the newly promoted powdered rice industrialization support by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration would be effective, the lowest among the survey items.

Job satisfaction as farmers was 26.8%, lower than the 30% who were dissatisfied. Except for 2020, when satisfaction was higher, dissatisfaction has been higher for three consecutive years. When asked about the future outlook of agriculture 10 years from now, 59.9% of farmers responded pessimistically, compared to 15.4% who were hopeful. Since the survey began in 2020, this gap has been widening annually.

Seo Samsuk, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker. / Photo by Yoon Dongju doso7@

Overall rural life satisfaction slightly increased from 27.6% last year to 30.5% this year. Looking at details, housing conditions showed the highest satisfaction for four consecutive years. Comparing 2020 and 2023 on a 5-point scale, educational conditions dropped from 2.6 to 2.47 points, and healthcare fell from 2.57 to 2.4 points, showing the largest decline.

Job satisfaction as farmers was 26.8%, lower than the 30% who answered they were dissatisfied. Except for 2020, when satisfaction was higher, dissatisfaction has been higher for three consecutive years. When asked about the future outlook of agriculture 10 years from now, 59.9% of farmers responded pessimistically, compared to 15.4% who were hopeful.

In particular, the longer the period of agricultural work, the higher the proportion of pessimistic responses. For those with 10 years or less in agriculture, 50.3% were pessimistic, below the average, but for those with 31 years or more, 63.8% were pessimistic, exceeding the average.

When rating the importance and evaluation of institutions on a 5-point scale, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs scored the highest importance at 4.23 points among the surveyed institutions but remained low in evaluation with 2.51 points. In contrast, the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation scored 4.19 points in importance and 3.62 points in evaluation, the highest among the surveyed institutions.

In response to a question about follow-up alternatives after the presidential veto led to the repeal of the Grain Management Act, 57.1% chose expanding the management safety net to guarantee farm income. This was followed by expanding various public interest direct payment systems and a minimum price guarantee system for regionally specialized agricultural products, at 53.6% and 51.9%, respectively.

However, the current ruling party’s initiatives for ‘appropriate rice production’ and ‘expansion of the 1,000 won breakfast project’ showed the lowest figures at 39.7% and 37.5%, respectively.

Regarding the outlook on agricultural product consumption due to the discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima, 64.9% expected significant damage. In a general public survey conducted alongside the agricultural workers’ opinion survey, 61.8% also responded that the damage would be significant, showing little difference.

Representative Seo Sam-seok said through this survey, “Although the issue of food self-sufficiency is a matter of national survival for the Republic of Korea, agricultural policy authorities have only presented unachievable hollow goals without concrete plans,” and added, “The government must expand the farm management safety net and listen carefully to the voices of farmers in the field who want a minimum price guarantee system.”

He further pointed out, “There is a mismatch between the agricultural policies desired by farmers and those promoted by the government.”

Moreover, he emphasized, “The fact that the longer farmers have worked in agriculture, the more pessimistic they are about the future of Korean agriculture clearly shows that farmers have been continuously marginalized,” and said, “It is urgent for the government to find out what alternatives farmers need.”

He also stated, “Farmers’ concerns are as great as those of people engaged in fisheries regarding the discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima,” and said, “The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs should prepare support measures through a fact-finding survey on not only the direct damage caused by the contaminated water discharge but also the damage such as the decline in agricultural product consumption.”

The 2023 Agricultural Workers Opinion Survey is the fourth annual survey targeting agricultural workers since it began in 2020. Seo Sam-seok’s office commissioned the professional polling agency T.BRIDGE to conduct the survey from the 20th to the 26th of last month, targeting 1,094 National Agricultural Cooperative Federation members nationwide. The sampling error is ±3.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

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