Wando-gun Pays 9.3 Billion KRW in Public Direct Payments to Over 6,800 Farms

Small-scale Farmer Direct Payments: 4,721 Farms, 6.1 Billion KRW
Area-based Direct Payments: 2,086 Farms, 3.2 Billion KRW

Wando-gun, Jeollanam-do announced on the 29th that it will provide the Basic Public Interest Direct Payment (small-scale and area-based direct payments) to enhance the public interest functions of agriculture and rural areas and to stabilize farmers' incomes.

Of the total 9.3 billion KRW for the '2024 Basic Public Interest Direct Payment' to be paid from the 2nd of next month, 6.1 billion KRW will be sequentially paid to 4,721 small-scale farmers as small-scale direct payments, and 3.2 billion KRW will be paid to 2,086 farmers as area-based direct payments according to farmland size. This year, the payment unit price per small-scale farm has increased from 1.2 million KRW to 1.3 million KRW.

Wando-gun government office building exterior.

The Public Interest Direct Payment program is a system that provides support funds to farmers who meet certain qualifications and comply with requirements to promote the public interest functions of agriculture and rural areas, such as environmental conservation, rural maintenance, and food safety, as well as to stabilize farmers' incomes and shift agricultural policy centered on rice. If 17 compliance requirements, including maintaining the shape and function of farmland and completing education, are not met, payments can be reduced by 5 to 20%.

The county received applications for support from farmers and farmland registered in the agricultural management system from February to June, and after issuing registration certificates in June, finalized the payment recipients and amounts through field surveys, compliance checks, and mass verification by November.

County Governor Shin Woo-cheol said, “Despite difficulties such as abnormal weather conditions including cold waves, monsoons, heatwaves, and poor crop yields, I thank the farmers who have devoted all their efforts to this year’s farming, and I hope the public interest direct payments will help stabilize farm management even a little.”