Gwangju City Urges Farmers to Apply for Public Benefit Allowance

Apply at Local Administrative Welfare Centers Until the 18th of Next Month
600,000 KRW per Household Provided via Gwangju Prepaid Card

Farmers' Public Interest Allowance Poster. Provided by Gwangju City

Gwangju City announced on the 19th that it will accept applications for the '2025 Farmers' Public Benefit Allowance' at the local administrative welfare centers in each district from the 24th of this month until the 18th of next month.

Eligible applicants must have continuously maintained their address and agricultural management information (farmland or farm) in Gwangju since before January 1 of last year and must actually be engaged in agriculture. The applicant must be the head of an agricultural management entity who received the basic direct payment in the previous year, or the head of an agricultural management entity raising livestock or insects. However, in the case of joint management entities, spouses, or members of the same household who have registered multiple entities separately, only one person may apply.

Those whose total non-agricultural income in 2023 was 37 million KRW or more per year, as well as public officials, subsidy fraudsters, and violators of agricultural-related laws, are excluded from support.

The city especially aims to help farmers by significantly shortening the qualification verification period and plans to pay the Farmers' Public Benefit Allowance one month earlier than last year, in May. The allowance is 600,000 KRW per household per year and will be provided via the Gwangju prepaid card. The card issued this year can be used until December 31 of next year.

Starting next year, the city plans to shorten the usage period of the Farmers' Public Benefit Allowance prepaid card to December 31 of the current year. This is to encourage early use of the allowance to revitalize the local economy and to collect any leftover balance from lost or unused cards and reuse it as funds.

The Gwangju Farmers' Public Benefit Allowance is one of the 'Three Major Public Benefit Value Allowances,' a core pledge of the 8th popularly elected administration, and was introduced in 2023 as the first among metropolitan cities. The city supported 7,100 households with 4.26 billion KRW in 2023, and 8,356 households with 5.014 billion KRW in 2024.

Joo Jaehee, Director of the Economic and Startup Bureau, said, "We plan to pay the Farmers' Public Benefit Allowance one month earlier than last year to provide at least some help to farmers struggling with falling rice prices and rising agricultural material costs," and added, "The allowance not only helps enhance the public value of agriculture and stabilize farm management, but also greatly contributes to revitalizing the local economy."

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