[2025 Budget Proposal] Full Introduction of 'Import Price Insurance' Instead of Revising the Grain Act and Agricultural Security Act... 6.4 Trillion Won Support for Farmers and Fishermen

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Allocates 18.7496 Trillion KRW Budget, Up 2.2%
Includes 54.4 Billion KRW for Ending Dog Meat Consumption Support

The government has decided to actively promote import safety insurance, expanding the target items to include rice, radish, and napa cabbage. A total of 7.17 trillion won will be invested to significantly expand agricultural direct payments and strengthen income and management safety nets for farmers.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 27th that the 2025 budget plan has been set at 18.7496 trillion won, an increase of 2.2% (410.4 billion won) compared to 2024.

Park Beom-su, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, stated, "The Ministry plans to focus its 2025 budget investment on key agricultural policy tasks such as strengthening farmers' income and management safety nets, responding to rural extinction and spatial regeneration, expanding growth engines for the agri-food industry, stabilizing supply and demand of agricultural and livestock products, and enhancing food security." He added, "Since the introduction of the public interest direct payment system in 2020, the basic public interest direct payment unit price will be increased by about 5% for the first time, and the unit price for non-promoted dry fields will be raised to 80% of that for non-promoted paddy fields (currently 62-70%) to strengthen the basic income safety net for farmers."

First, the Ministry has allocated 7.1701 trillion won to expand farmers' income and management safety nets, including the expansion of the agricultural direct payment system. This is the largest among the four major investment areas, increasing by 365.6 billion won (5.4%) from this year's 6.8045 trillion won. In particular, in response to the amendment of the Grain Management Act, which mandates the government to compulsorily purchase surplus rice, and the Agricultural Products Price Stabilization Act, which guarantees minimum prices for agricultural products, the full-scale import safety insurance project will be promoted. The target items will increase from 9 to 15, including rice, radish, and napa cabbage, and the support target area will expand from about 1% of the cultivation area per item to up to 25%, increasing the related budget from 8.1 billion won this year to 207.8 billion won next year.

Vice Minister Park explained, "The detailed contents of the import safety insurance will be included in the 'Korean-style Income and Management Safety Net Establishment Plan,' which will be announced after discussions among private, public, and academic consultative bodies. It can be seen as an alternative to the opposition party's Grain Management Act and Agricultural Products Price Stabilization Act proposals." He added, "The Agricultural Products Price Stabilization Act aims to guarantee minimum prices for major agricultural products including rice, but this does not align with market logic. Import safety insurance is a means to stabilize farm income."

The Ministry will strengthen investment in disaster response social overhead capital (SOC) to enhance natural disaster response capabilities (from 1.1996 trillion won to 1.2469 trillion won). Additionally, to reduce feed costs for livestock farms, 1 trillion won will continue to be supported for feed purchase funds, and repayment of 638.7 billion won in feed purchase funds due next year for Hanwoo cattle farmers struggling with falling prices will be deferred for one year.

For stabilizing supply and demand of agricultural and livestock products and strengthening food security, 4.7197 trillion won has been allocated, a 3.2% increase from this year's 4.5734 trillion won. This budget will be used to establish three new smart orchard specialized complexes (1.3 trillion won) with high productivity and disaster prevention facilities to stabilize fruit supply and demand. A new investment of 1.1 billion won will be made to equip agricultural machinery rental centers with mobile hot air fans to prevent cold damage and support farmers. The budget for fruit contract farming will also be expanded to 92.6 billion won, and a pilot operation of designated shipment volumes (20,000 tons, 25.8 billion won) will be conducted for apples to manage shipment destinations and timing.

To revitalize online wholesale markets, support including transaction incentives will be expanded to 14.9 billion won. Furthermore, to scale and improve efficiency in mountain area distribution, the number of smart mountain area distribution centers will be increased from 30 to 60, and support for joint sorting costs will be expanded (from 8.6 billion won to 12.9 billion won), strengthening investments to improve distribution structures. To stabilize rice supply and demand, 1.7322 trillion won will be invested to maintain government grain stockpiles at 450,000 tons next year and increase overseas rice aid from 100,000 tons to 150,000 tons.

A budget of 54.4 billion won has been allocated for ending dog meat consumption. Following the passage of the Special Act on Ending Dog Meat Consumption, support will be provided for closure and business transition to dog meat farm owners who are inevitably closing or changing businesses, including closure and business transition subsidies and facility compensation. Support will also be provided for slaughter facilities, including facility compensation and demolition costs. Specific details such as support criteria and scale will be announced next month after review by the Dog Meat Consumption End Committee. Vice Minister Park explained, "The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' budget is for supporting dog meat farms, while restaurants will be supported by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. The 54.4 billion won is for farms that have submitted implementation plans and will close and demolish next year."

Support for vulnerable groups will also be expanded. Agricultural food vouchers will be expanded nationwide (from 14.8 billion won to 38.1 billion won), targeting households receiving livelihood benefits (below 32% of median income) with pregnant women, infants, and elementary to high school students.

Additionally, the Ministry has allocated 1.5417 trillion won for responding to rural extinction and spatial regeneration, and 1.1358 trillion won for expanding growth engines of the agri-food industry. Through this, the ministry will strengthen surveys on vacant houses to resolve the vacant house problem in rural areas and continue improving safety and sanitation infrastructure to guarantee basic living conditions for residents in vulnerable rural areas. Support for funds, housing, and farmland will also be strengthened to increase youth inflow into agriculture and rural areas.