Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to Provide Support Funds for Mung Bean Farmers Experiencing Income Decline Due to FTA Implementation

(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Seon-mi = The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 22nd that mung beans have been finally selected as a support item for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) damage compensation direct payment this year.

The FTA damage compensation direct payment is a system that provides partial compensation to farmers for price declines in agricultural products due to increased imports following FTA implementation.

This year, damage was investigated for 110 items, and direct payment (support funds) will be provided only for mung beans.

Payment targets are agricultural producers who were producing mung beans before the Korea-Peru FTA took effect on August 1, 2011.

Farms hoping to receive support funds can submit applications along with production and sales verification documents to their local eup, myeon, or dong office by August 1.

The Ministry of Agriculture will conduct document and on-site surveys through local governments after the application period and plan to finalize the payment recipients and payment rates in October, with direct payments to be made by December.

sun@yna.co.kr