Damyang-gun, Keeping Promise with Residents for a "Prosperous Wealthy Rural Community" on Track

Expansion of Subsidy Projects to Increase Farmers' Real Income, Support for Drones and Wide-Area Pest Control

Realizing Sustainable Agriculture through Expanding Crop Diversification for Rice Price Stabilization and Fostering Young Farmers

Damyang-gun, Jeollanam-do, is smoothly implementing policies aimed at realizing the "Prosperous Wealthy Rural Community," a promise made to its residents during the 8th local government term.

To secure agricultural competitiveness, the county has expanded the area of eco-friendly rice production complexes by 1,200 hectares and significantly increased the scale of subsidy projects, including providing 2.9 billion KRW for livestock manure compost support projects.

As a result, "Daesup Malgeun Damyang Rice," produced by the Damyang-gun Nonghyup Rice Cooperative Joint Business Corporation, the county's representative brand, won the grand prize in this year's top 10 high-quality brand rice evaluation in Jeollanam-do, achieving the remarkable feat of winning for 13 consecutive years.

Additionally, remarkable achievements have been made by supplying eco-friendly rice for school meals to 977 elementary, middle, and high schools in 11 districts of Seoul and Jeju Island, among other major cities.

Furthermore, plans are being discussed to establish a specialized agricultural product distribution center within the term to ensure that key agricultural products such as rice, strawberries, melons, and tomatoes receive fair prices. The focus is on building a system where farmers can concentrate on production while experts handle distribution.

Moreover, to provide practical support to eco-friendly farms struggling due to recurring abnormal weather, eco-friendly pest control has been expanded, and additional drones and wide-area sprayers have been supplied to address labor shortages.

Currently, Damyang-gun operates 35 drones and 6 wide-area sprayers to carry out scientific pest control.

Efforts are also focused on stabilizing rice prices to support rice farmers who faced difficulties due to price declines last year.

To maintain an appropriate rice production volume, various support policies such as strategic crop direct payments and paddy field crop diversification support projects have been promoted. As a result, the target for paddy field crop diversification (180 hectares) was exceeded (250 hectares), contributing to rice price stabilization.

In addition, to address the shortage of rural labor, the Rural Workforce Support Center has mediated over 4,500 workers this year.

Measures to prevent foreign worker attrition have been implemented, including inviting 170 seasonal workers and family and relatives of marriage immigrants this year.

Efforts have been made to ensure stable agricultural management by connecting 125 workers and promoting projects to improve working conditions for foreign workers and build dormitories.

County Governor Lee Byeong-no said, "Damyang-gun, where agriculture is the main industry, will thrive only if farmers live well. We will realize the 'Prosperous Wealthy Rural Community' promised to our residents through innovation that leads sustainable future agriculture by supporting various agricultural sectors during our term."