Gochang-gun Expands Support for Crop Disaster Insurance Premiums

Published 24 Jan.2024 09:51(KST)

The expansion of support for crop disaster insurance premiums, a key agricultural pledge of Shim Deok-seop, the 8th-term elected governor of Gochang-gun, Jeonbuk, is receiving great response.

According to the county on the 24th, 2.4 billion KRW of county funds have been allocated this year for crop disaster insurance, supporting up to 90% of farmers' insurance premiums.

Gochang-gun Government Office. [Photo by Gochang-gun]

Earlier, Governor Shim Deok-seop promised right after his inauguration in July 2022, "I will increase the county's burden for disaster insurance by 5% annually to significantly reduce the farmers' burden."

Accordingly, the farmers' share of the cost has decreased from 20% in 2022 to 15% in 2023, and down to 10% this year.

Crop disaster insurance is a program that compensates for crop damage caused by natural disasters such as monsoons, abnormal low temperatures, and heavy snow. It covers 70 items, starting with apples, pears, and persimmons (January), horticultural facilities like vinyl greenhouses (February), chili peppers, open-field watermelons (April), and bokbunja berries, peaches (December).

In particular, from this year, open-field watermelons have been newly added as an eligible item for subscription only in Gochang-gun and six other regions nationwide.

As of December last year, there were 8,304 subscribers to crop disaster insurance in Gochang-gun, with a total of 13.9 billion KRW in insurance payments made.

In August last year, the county enacted the Gochang-gun Agricultural Disaster Recovery Support Ordinance, the second of its kind in the province, establishing a basis to support small-scale affected farms and dedicating efforts to agricultural disaster support.

Governor Shim Deok-seop said, "I express gratitude and encouragement to the residents who produce high-quality agricultural products while battling abnormal climate," adding, "The county will do its best to serve as a social safety net so that farmers can farm stably."