Confirmed 10,103 Farmers... Payments Start End of This Month
Next Year's Basic Public Interest Direct Payment Unit Price Increased by 5%
Gwangju City announced on the 21st that it has finalized the scale of the 2024 Basic Public Interest Direct Payment at 10.2 billion KRW and will begin disbursing payments to 10,103 eligible farmers starting from the end of November.
The Public Interest Direct Payment system is designed to provide direct payments to farmers who meet certain qualifications and comply with required conditions, aiming to enhance the public functions of agriculture and rural areas and stabilize farmers' incomes.
The city received applications for the Basic Public Interest Direct Payment from February to May this year and confirmed 10,103 eligible recipients through verification of target farmland and farmers, qualification requirements for small-scale direct payments, compliance checks, and crackdowns on fraudulent claims.
Among them, the small-scale direct payment, which is paid per farm unit at 1.3 million KRW, amounts to 2.6 billion KRW for 1,978 households, while the area-based direct payment, paid per farmer (including corporations), covers 8,125 recipients totaling 7.6 billion KRW.
Notably, this year the payment rate for small-scale direct payments increased from 1.2 million KRW last year to 1.3 million KRW, resulting in a 200 million KRW increase compared to last year. The city plans to verify the bank accounts of the public interest direct payment recipients and make payments sequentially by the end of the year.
Gwangju City intends to raise the payment rate for the Basic Public Interest Direct Payment by about 5% next year and increase the payment rate for non-promoted dry fields to approximately 80% of that for non-promoted rice paddies, which is expected to further strengthen the income safety net for farmers.
Nam Taeksong, Director of the Agricultural Animal Policy Division, stated, “We will strengthen inspections to ensure that the public interest direct payments help stabilize farmers' incomes and fully benefit the farmers themselves. Since the payments are scheduled to increase next year, we hope this will provide significant support to farm management.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
