Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Announces 2020 Survey Results on Returning to Farming and Rural Areas
[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Last year, the average household income of those in their 5th year of returning to farming or rural living was found to be in the 36 million KRW range. This amount corresponds to about 90% of the income level before returning to farming or rural living.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the results of the "Return to Farming and Rural Living Survey" on the 24th. The survey was conducted through interviews with 4,066 households who had returned to farming or rural living within the past five years, from October to December last year.
The income of households returning to farming or rural living generally recovers to around 90% of their previous income after about five years. The household income in the first year of returning to farming was 27.82 million KRW, and by the fifth year (36.6 million KRW), it had recovered 87.5% of the average household income before returning to farming (41.84 million KRW). For rural living, the first-year household income was 34.36 million KRW, and by the fifth year (36.24 million KRW), it had risen to 92.2% of the average household income before rural living (39.32 million KRW).
The survey results showed that 50.1% of farming-return households engage in economic activities other than agricultural production, with "regular employment" (26.6%), "temporary work" (21.3%), and "self-employment" (19.1%) following. Among rural living households, 9 out of 10 (88.5%) engaged in economic activities such as regular employment, self-employment, farming, or temporary work.
Living expenses decreased after returning to farming or rural living. The average monthly living expenses before returning to farming or rural living were 2.69 million KRW and 2.60 million KRW, respectively, but dropped to 1.84 million KRW and 2.05 million KRW. Living expenses were mainly spent on food, housing/utilities/water/electricity, transportation/communication, and education in that order.
The reasons for moving to rural areas were cited as natural environment, development potential, and emotional relaxation. Farming-return households responded in order of natural environment (30.5%), vision and development potential of agriculture (23.0%), and family business succession (13.1%). Rural living households cited employment outside agriculture (24.1%), emotional relaxation (15.3%), natural environment (13.7%), and affordable housing prices (9.6%) as reasons.
Notably, about 14.7% of rural living households were found to engage in agriculture within five years after moving. By age group, 50-60s accounted for 18.7%, 40s for 14.1%, under 30s for 13.4%, and 70s and older for 7.1%.
However, many households did not have all members relocate. The average household size before moving for farming-return households was 2.7 persons, and after moving (at the time of the survey) was 2.0 persons. Among households with two or more members, 26.5% moved alone at the time of returning to farming, and 17.9% of these later reunited with other household members. For rural living households, the average household size before moving was 2.5 persons, and after moving was 2.2 persons. Among rural living households with two or more members, 14.1% moved alone initially, and 11.7% of these later reunited with other household members. Reasons for moving alone included household members' jobs (40.0%, 50.4%), children's education (25.4%, 12.5%), preparation for farming base (17.2%, 9.2%), and family opposition (11.2%, 19.9%) in that order.
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