Muan-gun, First Payment of Basic Public Interest Direct Payment for Income Stability

Exterior view of Muan-gun Office (Photo by Muan-gun)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Oh Hwan-joo] Muan County, Jeollanam-do (Governor Kim San) announced on the 30th that it has made the first payment of 24.836 billion KRW in basic public interest direct payments for 2020 to 11,570 farming households.

The basic public interest direct payment is a subsidy that integrates previously implemented rice direct payments, fixed field direct payments, and disadvantaged condition direct payments into one. It supports the enhancement of rural public functions such as environmental conservation, rural maintenance, and food safety through agricultural activities, as well as income stabilization for farmers.

Unlike the previous direct payment system, which paid different amounts based on cultivated crops and field area, payments are now divided into small-scale farm direct payments and area direct payments.

The small-scale farm direct payment was newly established to strengthen income stabilization for small-scale farms. It provides a fixed amount of 1.2 million KRW only when certain conditions such as cultivating between 0.1 and 0.5 hectares, income, rural residence period, and farming engagement period are met. The area direct payment is provided differentially according to the support unit price for each cultivation area segment.

A county official said, "This year, considering the difficulties faced by farming households due to COVID-19 and natural disasters such as heavy rains, we expedited the payment of public interest direct payments as much as possible," adding, "We hope the direct payments will help stabilize farmers' incomes and improve farming conditions."

Meanwhile, some farms classified for reduction due to violations of the public interest direct payment compliance requirements are expected to receive payments in mid-December after submitting opinions and undergoing verification procedures by the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service.

For more details about the public interest direct payments, inquiries can be made to the Muan County Department of Eco-friendly Agriculture or the local town and township offices of residence.