Hwasun-gun, COVID-19 Prolongation... All-Out Effort to Minimize Damage to Agriculture and Farmers

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Young-gyun] Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Gu Chung-gon) announced on the 6th that it is promoting various support policies for agriculture and farmers who are experiencing difficulties such as consumption contraction, price decline, and labor shortages during the busy farming season due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The county is establishing and implementing direct and indirect support measures necessary to minimize damage to agriculture and farmers and stabilize farming activities.

Representative measures include purchasing flowers from floriculture farms, joint purchasing of eco-friendly agricultural products, public interest allowances for farmers and fishermen, and reductions in agricultural machinery rental fees.

Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and strengthened social distancing, various events such as graduation ceremonies, entrance ceremonies, and anniversaries have been canceled or scaled down, and the opening of elementary, middle, and high schools has been postponed, causing a sharp decline in consumption and blocked sales channels, which is frustrating farmers.

Earlier, the county conducted a ‘Flower Gift’ campaign last month, where public officials purchased about 540 bouquets of Alstroemeria and Freesia grown by local floriculture farms.

A joint purchasing campaign was also conducted to support farms supplying school meals.

Together with local related organizations, a campaign to promote agricultural product consumption was carried out last month, jointly purchasing 1,000 sets of eco-friendly packages.

In addition, according to the comprehensive ‘Regional Economy Revitalization Measures’ announced on the 26th of last month in response to COVID-19, the public interest allowance for farmers and fishermen, which was previously disbursed in two installments in the first and second halves of the year, will be paid in a single lump sum around mid-month.

About 8,000 farming households will receive 600,000 KRW per household, totaling 5 billion KRW in public interest allowances for farmers and fishermen, aiming to stabilize farmers’ livelihoods and revitalize the local economy.

From the 23rd of last month until July 31, agricultural machinery rental fees will be temporarily reduced.

For up to two uses per person, the fee is 100% waived, and from the third use onward, a 50% discount is applied.

The county expects the total amount of the reduction to reach 33 million KRW.

Governor Gu Chung-gon said, “We will continue to actively discover and implement support measures for farms directly affected by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic,” adding, “While thoroughly blocking the spread and inflow of COVID-19 in the local community through meticulous quarantine, we will devote all efforts to revitalizing the local economy.”