Ministry of Agriculture Launches '1,000-Won Breakfast for Industrial Workers' and Other Public Welfare Programs... 60.7 Billion Won Executed on New Year's Day

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has officially launched initiatives to protect vulnerable groups and respond to disasters, including the 1,000-won breakfast program for industrial complex workers, agri-food vouchers, disaster response funds, and crop disaster insurance.

The ministry announced on January 2 that it had executed 60.7 billion won for these four programs. This is more than double the scale of last year, when only one program worth 30 billion won was implemented on New Year's Day.

The 1,000-won breakfast program for industrial complex workers, introduced as a pilot project for the first time this year, is a dietary support policy that provides healthy breakfasts made with Korean rice to workers in industrial complexes who have limited access to food. After a public selection process for participating industrial complexes in November last year, the program will begin in January 2026, offering breakfasts to workers at a total of 34 industrial complexes (approximately 900,000 meals).

The budget for the agri-food voucher program has been expanded to 74 billion won this year, nearly double last year’s 38.1 billion won. The ministry expects that by expanding the number of eligible recipients, the support period, product categories, and participating stores, more vulnerable groups will be able to receive stable food assistance. In particular, the support period, which was 10 months last year, has been extended to 12 months from this year, ensuring uninterrupted food welfare for vulnerable groups throughout the year. The program will be operated for immediate use at approximately 60,000 stores nationwide starting January 2 through prompt execution.

To address disasters caused by increasingly severe weather anomalies, disaster response funds and crop disaster insurance for farmers will also be executed from the first day of the new year. For the first time, rice kernel smut caused by abnormal heat in 2025 has been recognized as an agricultural disaster, and the remaining disaster relief payments, which began in December last year, will continue to be provided without interruption. In addition, the crop disaster insurance, which was strengthened last year by expanding the range of covered items, will actively encourage farmers to enroll in the insurance starting in January this year.

Kim Jeongju, Director of Policy Planning at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, stated, "We have significantly expanded the execution scale from the first day of the new year to strengthen the government's role as a priming pump for economic recovery." He added, "Throughout the year, the ministry will continue to hold internal fiscal execution review meetings and monitor the status of implementation, so that the effectiveness of budget execution can be felt in the field, making every effort to ensure this happens."