Shinan-gun to Distribute 25.6 Billion KRW in Basic Public Interest Direct Payments

Scenic view of Shinan-gun Government Office ? Asia Economy

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Park Woo-ryang) announced that from the 1st, it will sequentially pay the basic public interest direct payment to promote the public interest functions of agriculture and rural areas such as environmental conservation, rural maintenance, and food safety through agricultural activities, and to stabilize the income of farmers.

Now in its second year of implementation, the basic public interest direct payment system is a project that provides direct payments to farmers who meet certain qualifications and comply with requirements to promote the public interest functions of agriculture and rural areas and stabilize farmers' income.

This year, the county confirmed a total of 9375 farms eligible for the basic public interest direct payment, covering an area of 12,955 hectares, with a total amount of 25.66 billion KRW.

Among these, the small-scale farmer direct payment will be paid to 3,873 farms amounting to 4.63 billion KRW, and the area-based direct payment will be paid to 5,502 farms amounting to 21.01 billion KRW.

The payment unit price is divided into small-scale farmer direct payment and area-based direct payment. The small-scale farmer direct payment provides 1.2 million KRW to farms under 0.5 hectares, and the area-based direct payment is divided into three sections: Section 1 (under 2 hectares), Section 2 (2 to 6 hectares), and Section 3 (over 6 hectares), with differentiated payments ranging from 1.34 million KRW to 2.05 million KRW per hectare depending on the section.

The public interest direct payment applications were received from April to May, and through an integrated verification system operated by the county and the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service, farms with unsuitable land were preemptively guided not to apply, strengthening pre-verification to prevent fraudulent claims in advance.

Governor Park Woo-ryang said, “I hope that farmers will comply with the public interest obligations stipulated in the public interest direct payment system, such as safe pesticide use standards, and practice sustainable agriculture to maintain and preserve the natural environment of the beautiful 1004 Islands and the Sinan mudflats, a World Heritage site.” He added, “I hope this public interest direct payment will help our farms facing difficulties due to labor shortages caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and rising agricultural material prices.”