Jeonnam Province Supports 12 Projects with 840 Billion KRW to Strengthen Food Industry Competitiveness

Jeonnam Province is putting all its efforts into strengthening the competitiveness of the food industry based on the nation's number one food production foundation (19%).

On the 8th, the province announced that it will support 840 billion won for 12 core projects, including the total war strategy crop direct payment system and the establishment of powdered rice production complexes.

As food protectionism spreads worldwide and abnormal climate events such as the Russia-Ukraine war, heatwaves, floods, and droughts have noticeably increased, the international community's awareness of food security is rising.

Accordingly, Jeonnam Province is aiming to stabilize farm management by increasing price competitiveness through appropriate rice production and production cost reduction, and actively responding to frequent disasters caused by climate change.

To improve the self-sufficiency rate of major grains such as wheat and soybeans and ensure appropriate rice production, 68.2 billion won (37% of the national total) will be allocated to strategic crop direct payments for powdered rice and soybeans, 5.2 billion won (36% of the national total) to 45 powdered rice production complexes, and 3.8 billion won to support the cultivation of non-rice crops on 1,875 hectares, totaling 77.2 billion won for these three projects.

Additionally, 13.7 billion won will be spent on 114 large-scale regional food crop joint management bodies to reduce production costs and 15.8 billion won on projects to reduce agricultural production costs, including the installation of joint nurseries and wide-area pest control equipment.

Furthermore, to promote mechanization of field crops with poor mechanization, 17.9 billion won will be invested in three projects: 5,884 multipurpose small agricultural machines (15 billion won), 3,000 mobile multi-use work platforms (1.5 billion won), and 22,000 units of farming safety equipment (1.4 billion won).

In the area of basic income preservation and management safety net construction for farms, 490.7 billion won will be provided for the public direct payment system covering 245,000 hectares, 57 billion won for rice management stabilization measures for 134,000 households, 166 billion won for crop disaster insurance covering 149,000 hectares to prepare for natural disasters, and 15.3 billion won for agricultural safety insurance for 126,000 farmers, totaling 729 billion won for these four projects.

Notably, this year, the small-scale direct payment for farms under 0.5 hectares is expected to increase by 100,000 won from the previous amount to 1.3 million won.

Jeong Gwang-hyun, Director of the Agriculture, Livestock and Food Bureau of Jeonnam Province, said, “We will focus on supporting the improvement of food self-sufficiency rates for wheat, soybeans, and other crops, reducing production costs, and stabilizing farm management to strengthen the competitiveness of the food industry. In particular, we will expand support for agricultural policy insurance subscriptions to protect farmers' lives and property from the frequent and large-scale agricultural disasters caused by climate change.”

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