Namwon-si, 'Farmer Salary System' Applications Open Until the 28th of Next Month

[Namwon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Jeong Young-gwon] Namwon City, Jeonbuk Province, announced on the 25th that it will accept applications for the 'Farmer Salary System Support Project' at local agricultural cooperatives until the 28th of next month.

Namwon City Hall Exterior View
[Photo by Namwon City]

The Farmer Salary System is a project promoted to ensure stable income distribution for farming households by prepaying 70% of the expected income from rice to be shipped through the cooperative's own purchase, divided monthly during the busy farming season, thereby enabling planned management of livelihood.

The target is rice farming households who apply by signing a contract with the local agricultural cooperative for the Farmer Salary System project and the cooperative's own purchase shipment by the 28th of next month. Payments will be made on the 20th of each month for seven months from March to September.

The monthly payment amount ranges from 310,000 KRW (50 bags/40kg) to 2,728,000 KRW (440 bags/40kg) depending on the contracted quantity, paid in advance by the contracted cooperative. Namwon City covers the interest on the operating funds, so participating farmers bear no cost.

Especially this year, the interest rate has been raised to 5%, and after the harvest is completed and the price of 2023 rice is determined, the remaining amount will be recalculated and settled.

The city expects that this will alleviate the economic burden of rice farming households, whose income is concentrated in the autumn harvest season, by supporting year-round expenses such as farming funds, management costs, and living expenses.

Also, as a project to enable planned agricultural management for farming households, 706 households participated in 2022, with 8,490 tons of rice and 156 million KRW in interest subsidies paid.

This year, about 180 million KRW and approximately 9,200 tons are planned to be operated, and the Farmer Salary System is expected to receive high approval from farmers.

A city official said, "We plan to continue promoting the Farmer Salary System project, which can help rice farming households achieve stable agricultural management, through eup/myeon/dong administrative welfare centers and local agricultural cooperatives to encourage many households to participate."

Namwon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Jeong Young-gwon baekok@asiae.co.kr