Pohang City Surpasses 130 Billion KRW in Agriculture and Rural Budget for the First Time... Revitalizing Rural Areas

Record-High Budget of 137.3 Billion KRW Allocated... 15.6% Increase from Last Year
Focused Investment in Improving Farmers' Quality of Life, Strengthening Agricultural Competitiveness, and Revitalizing Rural Communities

Pohang City’s agricultural and rural budget has surpassed 130 billion KRW for the first time in history this year.

Homiban Peninsula Landscape Agriculture Complex.

This year, Pohang City’s agricultural and rural budget amounts to 137.3 billion KRW, an increase of 15.6% compared to last year’s main budget of 118.7 billion KRW. With the largest budget ever allocated, the city plans to focus investment on revitalizing rural areas this year to advance local agriculture to the next level.

This year, the city will concentrate its budget on improving living conditions by ▲ enhancing the quality of life for farmers and securing stability in agricultural management ▲ strengthening food security and low-carbon agricultural production competitiveness ▲ revitalizing agriculture and rural areas ▲ developing rural cultural and welfare facilities ▲ and activating agricultural product distribution and marketing.

Farmers will be supported with basic public benefit direct payments and farmer allowances, as well as agricultural management stabilization loans and controlled-release fertilizers for rice farming, establishing a management safety net. Support for low-carbon and eco-friendly farming will also be provided to respond to the climate crisis.

Additionally, a 2.3 billion KRW investment will expand landscape healing agriculture in Homigot-myeon, linking it to an ecological tourism hub. A budget of 11.2 billion KRW will be invested in rural central area revitalization projects and basic living base development projects to improve rural living conditions and accelerate the creation of desirable rural spaces.

Mayor Lee Gang-deok of Pohang is visiting the lettuce mist hydroponic cultivation site located in Gigaemyeon last year, inspecting the facilities. Provided by Pohang City

In the livestock sector, a budget of 2 billion KRW will be used to open ‘Pohang Pet Field,’ a pet-themed park, to establish a pet culture city.

To achieve 30 billion KRW in agricultural product exports by 2030, Pohang City plans to build smart AI-based production and distribution facilities and integrated production-distribution organizations, and strengthen digital marketing to expand the global market for Pohang’s agricultural food industry.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok stated, “To enhance the competitiveness of Pohang agriculture, which is facing crises such as climate change, falling rice prices, aging rural populations, and population decline, new changes are necessary. We will continuously develop new projects and diverse support policies to transform agriculture into AI-based smart agriculture that creates high added value.”