Gwangju City Implements Opportunity Income Support Project for Farmers and Fishermen... Applications Open Until the 30th of Next Month

Gwangju City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Bang Se-hwan) announced on the 14th that it will accept applications for the Farmers and Fishermen Opportunity Income from March 24 to April 30.

Gwangju City Hall exterior. Provided by Gyeonggi Gwangju City

The Farmers and Fishermen Opportunity Income is a project implemented to provide fair compensation to farmers and fishermen who engage in activities that create social value, such as maintaining public functions and sustainability, in response to the crisis of rural depopulation. The city plans to provide KRW 50,000 per month (for general farmers and fishermen) or KRW 150,000 per month (for youth, returnees to farming, and environmentally-friendly farmers and fishermen) in Gwangju City local currency.

The eligible applicants are youth farmers and fishermen under the age of 50 registered in agricultural and fishery management entities (farmers aged 40 to 49 must have been registered within 10 years), returnee farmers and fishermen (within 5 years of returning to farming), environmentally-friendly farmers and fishermen (certified for eco-friendly, animal welfare, livestock happiness, or premium seafood), and other general farmers and fishermen registered in agricultural and fishery management entities.

Additionally, applicants must have non-agricultural income below KRW 37 million, have resided in Gwangju City for more than one year as of the application start date (March 24), and must be farmers or fishermen who own farmland in Gwangju City and have been engaged in farming for more than one year.

Applications can be submitted by visiting the administrative welfare centers in the applicant’s district (eup, myeon, Opo 1-dong [formerly Opo-eup area]) or the Agricultural Technology Center (for urban areas), or through the integrated support system website.

Mayor Bang Se-hwan stated, “We expect that implementing the Farmers and Fishermen Opportunity Income support project through local currency payments will help respond to the rural depopulation crisis, improve the quality of life for farmers and fishermen, and contribute to revitalizing Gwangju City’s local economy by increasing sales for small business owners.”