Gyeonggi Province to Begin Accepting Applications for '2021 Basic Public Interest Direct Payment' from April 1

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hoon] Gyeonggi Province will begin accepting applications for the '2021 Basic Public Interest Direct Payment' starting April 1.

The 'Public Interest Direct Payment System' is designed to encourage public benefit creation for people and the environment—including food safety, environmental conservation, and rural maintenance—through agricultural activities. It is divided into the 'Basic Direct Payment System' and 'Selective Direct Payment System,' under which subsidies are provided to farmers and agricultural corporations who have registered their agricultural management information.

The 'Basic Direct Payment System' provides an annual 1.2 million won small-farm direct payment to small-scale farms with farmland areas of 0.5 hectares or less that meet certain requirements, regardless of area. For other farmers, differentiated unit prices are applied based on area brackets, with rates decreasing as the reference area increases, providing 1 to 2.05 million won per hectare in area-based direct payments.

Support is limited to cases where eligible farmers are engaged in farming on eligible farmland.

Eligible farmland refers to land with a record of receiving direct payments at least once between 2017 and 2019, while eligible farmers are those who received direct payments at least once between 2016 and 2019.

An important point to note this year is that applications are only possible upon submission of a lease agreement or equivalent documents.

Last year, tenant farmers could apply using a confirmation letter from the eup·myeon·dong chief when submission of a lease agreement was difficult, but this is not applicable this year.

The application period runs until May 31. Applicants should fill out the pre-distributed application form and submit it to the eup·myeon·dong office where the farmland is located.

Subsequently, verification by the relevant city·county and the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service will take place from June to October, with plans to provide the public interest direct payment in December.

Kim Ki-jong, head of the Province's Eco-Friendly Agriculture Division, stated, "As we enter the second year of implementing the public interest direct payment system, we will make every effort to ensure thorough examination of applications and document verification to prevent omissions and fraudulent claims."

Meanwhile, information regarding applications and receipt of the basic public interest direct payment can be found on the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' dedicated public interest direct payment website (https://www.mafra.go.kr/gong).

Inquiries can be made to each eup·myeon·dong office or the Agricultural Products Quality Management Service call center (1644-8778).