(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Yoon-gu = The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 3rd that next year's budget has been finalized at 20 trillion 136.2 billion won, an increase of 112.1 billion won compared to the government's proposal (20 trillion 350 billion won) after parliamentary review.
This marks the first time the budget has surpassed 20 trillion won, a 7.4% (1 trillion 394.6 billion won) increase from this year.
Budgets for key projects such as the rural basic income pilot program, support for pregnant women to purchase eco-friendly agricultural products, and public seasonal employment have been added.
The rural basic income pilot program has an additional budget of 63.7 billion won to support three additional counties beyond the previously selected seven counties.
The total budget for the pilot program, which provides residents in the designated areas with 150,000 won worth of regional love vouchers each month for two years, is 2 trillion 341 billion won.
Additionally, 15.8 billion won has been allocated to resume the support for pregnant women to purchase eco-friendly agricultural products, which was discontinued in 2023. This will provide up to 40,000 won worth of eco-friendly agricultural products per month to 160,000 pregnant women.
Budgets for projects aimed at stabilizing farmers' income and management have also been supplemented.
A budget of 15.6 billion won has been allocated to subsidize the purchase price of inorganic fertilizers (650,000 tons) to alleviate the burden on farm management costs.
To address the shortage of agricultural labor during the busy farming season, 3 billion won has been allocated to expand public seasonal employment (20 locations) and build additional agricultural worker dormitories (10 locations), and 7.7 billion won has been allocated to expand the production base for summer forage crops in response to the increase in the area supported by the direct payment for strategic crops.
Additionally, 5.1 billion won has been allocated to support the development of joint farming organizations centered on major production areas, 500 million won for the installation of low-temperature distribution facilities to ensure stable supply and distribution of agricultural products, and 17.4 billion won for the expansion of agricultural social overhead capital (SOC) such as rural water development, totaling 34 projects.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs stated that it plans to swiftly implement the necessary procedures to ensure the timely execution of the finalized budget.