[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Young-gyun] Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Gu Chung-gon) announced on the 25th that it will invest a total project cost of 749.17 million KRW this year to promote support projects in the forest income sector to increase the utilization of abundant forest resources and boost residents' income.
The county plans to implement six "forest income increase support projects," including support for commercialization of forest products, establishment of production and distribution bases for forest products, and creation of small-scale forest crop production complexes, providing subsidies of 409.87 million KRW.
In particular, it is helping many forestry workers to apply and be selected for forest income public projects such as the forest complex management complex project held every May to June by providing systematic pre-consulting and preparation.
As a result, since last year, one independent forest owner in Dongbok has started the management complex project, and this year two independent forest owners will promote the management complex project.
In addition, small-scale forest crop production complexes have been established in 19 locations to expand the production base of forest products, and the distribution base for forest products, such as commercialization and processing facilities, is being expanded.
The county plans to focus on increasing income by establishing a foundation for the sixth industrialization of forestry through management complex projects and other initiatives.
Efforts are also being made to foster mountain village communities.
This refers to the mountain village ecological village support project, where residents lead and use the power of the community to discover and operate experience programs to increase residents' income.
The county is promoting the activation of mountain village support projects by supporting the operation and management of mountain village ecological villages and community activities.
In this year's "Mountain Village Community Activation Support Project" contest hosted by the Korea Forestry Promotion Institute, Baegun-ri Mountain Village Ecological Village in Cheongpung-myeon was selected and plans to operate forest experience programs utilizing local specialties.
Baegun Mountain Village Ecological Village will present various experience and leisure programs using local specialties such as deodeok and doraji and forest resources.
The county will hire two "Mountain Village Ecological Village Operation Managers" in Cheongpung Baegun Village and Baega-myeon Nochi Village to provide support and carry out maintenance projects for facilities (project cost 51.47 million KRW).
It will also implement the "Wood Pellet Boiler and Stove Distribution Project (5 units, subsidy 14 million KRW)" to promote the use of forest biomass energy, establish a stable wood pellet distribution network, and revitalize the consumer market through quality control.
This year, to promote the use and distribution of forest biomass energy, the support targets have been expanded beyond residential use to include forestry, agricultural, and commercial uses, and support for automatic lifts for wood pellet transportation has also been added, expanding the project.
The support limit per wood pellet boiler is 4 million KRW, and for stoves, it is 1.5 million KRW. For residential, forestry/agricultural, and commercial uses, 70% is subsidized, and the remaining 30% plus additional costs are self-funded.
The county will conduct a forest product production survey to investigate production volume and value to use as basic data for establishing forestry policies such as improving forestry workers' income and forest product supply and demand plans.
Also, targeting all forestry households and companies producing forest products, it will survey 14 types and 109 items of forest products produced last year, including production volume, unit price, and cultivation area by item, and plans to announce the results by the end of August.
A county official said, "The county possesses abundant forest resources, with forest area accounting for 73.2%, and is emerging as a forest welfare hub. We will actively promote support projects that contribute to increasing residents' income by establishing a foundation for the sixth industrialization in the forest sector using forest resources and expanding the production, processing, and distribution bases of forest products."
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