[Opinion] Farmland Transfer Retirement Payment Project, a Catalyst for Solving Agricultural and Rural Issues

Park Young-sun, Head of Farmland Bank Management Department, Jeonnam Regional Headquarters, Korea Rural Community Corporation

There is a pure Korean word called ‘Majungmul.’ It means ‘water that goes out to greet’ and refers to the practice of pouring a bucket of water first when drawing drinking water with a pump in the past, so that the water would go deep underground to draw out a large amount of water. Therefore, it is often used as a metaphor for a trigger or clue to achieve something. One of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s national tasks, the newly launched ‘Farmland Transfer Retirement Direct Payment Project’ starting in 2024, can be seen as the ‘Majungmul’ to solve the problems of rural areas and agriculture in the Republic of Korea.

According to the 2020 Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Census, there are currently 410,000 farm households where the head of the household is aged 70 or older, accounting for 39.7% of all farm households, and this proportion is increasing compared to the past.

As elderly farmers retire, a generational change in farmland and agricultural labor should naturally occur, but many elderly farmers hesitate to retire due to anxiety about income in old age.

When agricultural retirement is delayed like this, farmland liquidity decreases accordingly, making it difficult for young farmers to secure farmland, and the rural and agricultural population continues to age in a vicious cycle. To solve these rural problems, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Rural Community Corporation are newly promoting the Farmland Transfer Retirement Direct Payment Project this year.

The ‘Farmland Transfer Retirement Direct Payment System’ is a system that pays a fixed monthly direct payment to farmers who retire after selling all their owned farmland, and in return, encourages the transfer of the retired farmers’ farmland preferentially to young farmers.

This project is an expansion and reorganization of the previous Farmland Bank’s Management Transfer Retirement Direct Payment Project, starting from 2024, with expanded eligibility, payment periods, and direct payments per unit area. However, the retirement conditions for agriculture (less than 1,000㎡ cultivation allowed) are applied more strictly to ensure that farmland is fully transferred to the next generation.

If the Farmland Transfer Retirement Direct Payment Project is successfully established, the parent generation will receive monthly retirement direct payments and farmland pensions, which will also alleviate the burden on the younger generation in supporting their elderly parents. Moreover, if young farmers who receive high-quality farmland settle in farming and gain economic stability, it can contribute to solving social problems such as the decline in rural birth rates and population decrease in the long term.

From an agricultural policy perspective, this project can be linked with other farmland bank projects such as the Customized Farmland Support Project and the Reserve Farmland Lease-type Smart Farm Project to break away from the rice-centered agricultural structure and serve as a foundation for preparing future agriculture such as smart farms and green bio, thus generating additional positive effects.

However, there are anticipated challenges until the system is firmly established. Children expecting inheritance or gifts may oppose it, or farmers may hesitate to sell farmland due to expectations of rising land prices. There may also be psychological resistance due to the loss of farmer status and potential social exclusion in rural communities after retirement.

In this regard, the role of the younger generation is crucial. It is necessary for the younger generation to change their perception and show interest in the system itself by actively encouraging the parent generation to retire earlier and maintain economically stable lives through farmland pensions or retirement transfer direct payment subscriptions.

The expected effects of the Farmland Transfer Retirement Direct Payment Project?stabilizing retired farmers’ income, supplying farmland to young farmers, and laying the foundation for future agriculture?are clear. Now is the time to pour the ‘Majungmul’ to bring about a fundamental structural improvement in Korean agriculture and rural areas. We ask for your great interest and affection for the newly launched ‘Farmland Transfer Retirement Direct Payment Project’ by the Korea Rural Community Corporation.

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