'Increase in Imga Direct Payment' Passed at Cabinet Meeting... "Effective from the End of This Month"

The partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Forestry Direct Payment Act, which increases the forestry direct payments provided to small-scale forestry households (forestry households engaged in mountain vegetable, medicinal crop, ornamental crop, shiitake mushroom, and fruit tree cultivation) and relaxes the eligibility criteria, was recently approved at the Cabinet meeting.

According to the Korea Forest Service on the 22nd, forestry direct payments are provided to small-scale forestry households managing forest areas between 0.1 ha and 0.5 ha, with an annual income of less than 45 million KRW. The amendment includes raising the forestry direct payment from the existing 1.2 million KRW to 1.3 million KRW.

Provided by Korea Forest Service

Additionally, the condition that forestry households primarily engaged in silviculture managing areas of 100 ha or more must fulfill at least 90 days of forestry work will be relaxed to the same basic employment requirement (60 days annually) going forward.

The Forestry Direct Payment Act is a law concerning the operation of a direct payment system to promote the public functions of forestry and forests. Its purpose is to compensate the income of forestry households producing forest products such as jujube, walnut, and chestnut as stipulated by law, as well as silviculture forestry households planting and managing trees in forest areas, and to enhance the public value of forests.

The amendment was prepared to secure income stability for small-scale forestry households among forest product producers and to specify the law more concretely to improve the effectiveness of the system. It is expected to be implemented as early as the end of this month.

Park Eun-sik, Director of the Forest Industry Policy Bureau at the Korea Forest Service, said, “We expect the amendment to the enforcement decree to help improve the income of small-scale forestry households and ensure the stable operation of the system,” adding, “The Korea Forest Service will continue to actively gather the opinions of forestry workers to expand the benefits of the forestry direct payment system and enhance convenience for forestry workers.”