Public Interest Direct Payment Applications Start in February... Expanded Eligibility in the 4th Year

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 17th that the application and reception for this year's Basic Public Interest Direct Payment will be conducted from February 1 to April 28.

Now in its fourth year of implementation, the Public Interest Direct Payment system is designed to provide 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' incomes. Farmers wishing to receive the public interest direct payment must submit a registration application form and related documents annually to the relevant eup, myeon, or dong office.

The non-face-to-face simple application, first implemented last year, will also be available from February 1 to 28 this year. Eligible applicants for the non-face-to-face simple application are farmers whose public interest direct payment registration information from last year matches their agricultural management entity registration information for this year. These farmers will be pre-notified via smartphone.

In particular, while last year's non-face-to-face application utilized smartphones and PCs, this year a telephone automated response system (ARS) method has been additionally introduced to make it more convenient for farmers to apply for direct payments.

On-site applications, where farmers visit eup, myeon, or dong offices in person, will be available from March 2 to April 28, immediately following the non-face-to-face application period. Farmers eligible for the non-face-to-face simple application who did not apply during that period can also apply in person at the eup, myeon, or dong office with jurisdiction over the farmland location during the on-site application period.

Starting this year, farmland that has never received previous direct payments at least once between 2017 and 2019 (1,719 farmlands) can also apply. This change follows the revision and promulgation of the "Act on the Operation of Direct Payment System for the Promotion of Public Interest Functions of Agriculture and Rural Areas" on October 18 last year, reflecting the agricultural sector's opinion that the 1,719 farmlands, which were not included in the public interest direct payment target until last year, should also receive payments.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plans to establish a pre-verification system and verification database to ensure no farmers are omitted from the direct payment application process. Before applying, eligibility will be pre-verified and the possibility of payment will be informed to farmers. This is a newly implemented system this year in preparation for the application and reception of the 1,719 farmlands.

As the number of farmland eligible for public interest direct payments expands, the Ministry will strengthen eligibility verification by linking various administrative information and will also vigorously promote measures to prevent fraudulent claims, such as special on-site inspections by the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service and local governments to confirm actual cultivation.

The public interest direct payment is a subsidy paid to the actual cultivator, so farmers must apply for the farmland they directly cultivate. Furthermore, if farmers fail to faithfully comply with 17 requirements, including proper management of agricultural waste, preparation and storage of farming diaries, participation in village community activities, and completion of education, the direct payment may be reduced.

The Ministry plans to pay direct payments to farmers starting in November after completing procedures such as eligibility verification and compliance checks (May to September) and finalizing recipients and payment amounts (October) once the public interest direct payment applications are completed.