Hwasun-gun Signs Business Agreement for 'Urban Residents Rural Attraction Support Project'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Young-gyun] Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Gu Chung-gon) announced on the 20th that on the 17th, it signed a "Urban Residents Rural Attraction Support Project Business Agreement" with the Hwasun-gun Return-to-Farming and Return-to-Village Association (President Park Byung-gi) at the county Agricultural Technology Center.

The urban residents rural attraction support project, promoted as a national government-funded project, has been underway for seven years.

The county was selected through a public contest last year and will receive an annual project fund of 120 million KRW from this year until 2022.

To revitalize rural areas facing difficulties due to rural aging and population decline, the county plans to support urban resident attraction and stable settlement through various support programs such as urban resident rural attraction programs and return-to-farming and return-to-village education programs.

The county Agricultural Technology Center and the county Return-to-Farming and Return-to-Village Association agreed to mutually cooperate through business collaboration to ensure that prospective and actual urban resident migrants successfully settle in Hwasun.

The Agricultural Technology Center will manage and promote the overall return-to-farming and return-to-village projects, while the Hwasun-gun Return-to-Farming and Return-to-Village Association will be entrusted with operating three detailed projects: the Return-to-Farming and Return-to-Village Support Center, Return-to-Farming and Return-to-Village School, and a direct marketplace for agricultural products by returnees.

An official from the Agricultural Technology Center stated, “We will strengthen the public-private governance system with the Hwasun-gun Return-to-Farming and Return-to-Village Association to assist pioneering returnees who settled in Hwasun first, actively promote necessary cooperative projects to attract urban residents, and do our best to revitalize agriculture and rural areas.”