Lowering the Enrollment Age for Farmland Pension and Expanding Pension Product Types

Spouse Succession Enrollment Age Lowered from 60 to 55 Years or Older
Introduction of Preferred Rental Products and Addition of 20-Year Products

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Joo Sang-don] The government has decided to lower the subscription age for the Farmland Pension and diversify product types to ensure stable retirement life for farmers and stabilize farm management.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 21st that it will promote improvements to the Farmland Pension system based on these details. The Farmland Pension is a product that allows farmers to receive monthly pension-like payments by using the farmland they own as collateral.

First, the age of the spouse eligible to subscribe to the "Farmland Pension Succession Product," which allows the spouse to inherit the pension rights upon the subscriber's death, will be lowered from 60 to 55 years old.

To expand the range of choices for subscribers, the types of pension products will be diversified. A new preferential rental-type product will be introduced, providing an additional 5% monthly payment when farmland is leased to the Korea Rural Community Corporation and the subscriber enrolls in the Farmland Pension. The corporation plans to supply the necessary high-quality farmland to young farmers and others. Additionally, a 20-year term will be added to the existing 5-year, 10-year, and 15-year term product types.

Subscribers will also be allowed to repay pension debts early at any time. Until now, early (partial) repayment was only possible once every three years, but from now on, early (partial) repayment will be allowed at any time.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs aims to promptly proceed with the revision of the "Korea Rural Community Corporation and Farmland Management Fund Act Enforcement Rules" to lower the subscription age for spouse pension succession and implement it within the first half of this year. The expansion of support methods for term products and the introduction of the preferential rental-type product will be completed through related notifications and guideline revisions by next month and then implemented.

Park Su-jin, Director of Agricultural Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "Through this system improvement, we will enable individual farmers to choose from various products according to their circumstances, helping the Farmland Pension to better support the stable retirement life of more farmers," adding, "We also expect to strengthen the foundation for securing and providing high-quality farmland to young farmers and others."

Jangseong-gun Agricultural Technology Center recently announced that it will actively promote a pilot project for tunnel cultivation using non-woven fabric in chili pepper farming to prevent frost and cold damage, which have been increasing due to abnormal weather. The photo shows non-woven fabric installed on chili pepper plants. Photo by Jangseong-gun