(Muan = Yonhap News) Reporter Hyeong Min-woo = On the 8th, the Jeonnam Province announced that it will defer the repayment of agricultural and fishing village promotion fund loans for one year to alleviate the burden on agricultural and fishing industry workers experiencing financial difficulties due to the damage from the soybean mosaic disease last year. The deferment of repayment applies to agricultural and fishing industry workers and agricultural and fishing corporations in the Jeonnam region that received facility or operating funds for the production, processing, distribution, and export of agricultural and marine products. With this measure, 53 farms approaching the repayment date for the agricultural and fishing village promotion fund this year will benefit from a one-year deferment on loans totaling 1.25 billion won. Farms and corporations confirmed as eligible for the repayment deferment can apply for the deferment to the financial institutions from which they previously received loans by the 13th. The Jeonnam Province provides medium and long-term loans of 100 million won to 1 billion won at an annual interest rate of 1% to agricultural and fishing industry workers and to processors, distributors, and exporters of agricultural and marine food products in order to increase agricultural and fishing income and strengthen the competitiveness of the agricultural and fishing industry. minu21@yna.co.kr