Damyang-gun, Applications for Eco-friendly Agriculture Direct Payments Open Until Next Month 30

[Damyang=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Chunsu] Jeonnam Damyang-gun announced on the 9th that it will accept applications for the Eco-friendly Agriculture Direct Payment System until the 30th of next month to stabilize the income of farms practicing eco-friendly agriculture.

The Eco-friendly Agriculture Direct Payment System is a program designed to promote the spread of eco-friendly agriculture and enhance the public functions of agriculture, such as environmental conservation, by compensating farmers producing eco-friendly agricultural and livestock products for initial income losses and production cost differences.

Eligible applicants are farms that have obtained eco-friendly agricultural product certification since November 2020. They must submit the eco-friendly agriculture direct payment application form, a copy of the certification, a copy of their bankbook, and other documents to the town or township office where the farmland is located.

The support limit is 0.1 to 5 hectares per farm. The payment amount is determined proportionally to the cultivation area according to the certification stage and item. Payments will be made in December for farmlands that maintain eco-friendly agricultural product certification until the end of October this year.

For direct payments, payments are made for 3 to 5 years per plot from the first payment year (3 to 4 times if discontinuous). For organic and pesticide-free continuous direct payments, payments are made indefinitely. However, pesticide-free rice is paid only once every 4 years.

The payment rates per hectare by certification stage and item are as follows: for organic, ▲paddy fields 700,000 KRW, ▲fields (fruit trees) 1,400,000 KRW, ▲fields (vegetables, special crops, other crops) 1,300,000 KRW; for pesticide-free, ▲paddy fields 500,000 KRW, ▲fields (fruit trees) 1,200,000 KRW, ▲fields (vegetables, special crops, other crops) 1,100,000 KRW.

For organic continuous payments, the rates per hectare are 350,000 KRW for paddy fields, 700,000 KRW for fields (fruit trees), and 650,000 KRW for fields (vegetables, special crops, other crops). For pesticide-free continuous payments, the rates per hectare are 250,000 KRW for paddy fields, 600,000 KRW for fields (fruit trees), and 550,000 KRW for fields (vegetables, special crops, other crops).

County Governor Choi Hyungsik said, “We hope this will help eco-friendly farmers manage their businesses amid the difficult economic situation caused by COVID-19,” and added, “We will thoroughly promote the eco-friendly agriculture direct payment project this year to ensure that no eligible farms are left out.”