Yeonggwang-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Jang Se-il) announced on the 29th that the enrollment period for crop disaster insurance for barley, wheat, oats, and other cereal crops will be extended by one week, from the original deadline of the 6th of next month to the 13th, due to delays in cereal sowing caused by frequent rain.
The county is a major barley production area, deriving a significant portion of its winter agricultural income from barley cultivation. However, until now, barley was not included in the crop disaster insurance items, so farmers have had to bear the damages entirely on their own.
To improve this, the county has annually requested the government to include barley in the insurance coverage, and this year, for the first time, barley was included as an eligible crop for crop disaster insurance.
Earlier this year, during the barley growing season, frequent rains caused damage from moisture, resulting in a 22% decrease in barley production compared to the previous year. In summer, abnormal high temperatures worsened pest and disease damage such as rice planthoppers, and crop damage due to climate change has been occurring frequently. Currently, barley sowing is delayed due to continuous rainfall.
A county official stated, “The barley emergence rate has not exceeded 80%, resulting in a low insurance enrollment rate,” and added, “We ask for much interest and participation so that barley farmers can enroll without omission through this extension of the enrollment period.”
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