▲ Prime Minister Han Seong-sook delivers a speech at the 31st Farmer's Day ceremony held at the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation headquarters on Saemunan-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, on November 11.
Prime Minister Han Seong-sook said on November 11, "There are many voices saying that the budget for basic income in farming and fishing villages should be expanded from around 300 billion won this year to more than 1.1 trillion won next year, and then increased even further.
It needs to be expanded much more." Prime Minister Han made the remarks during her address at the 31st Farmer's Day ceremony held at the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation headquarters in Seoul on the same day.
She said, "In the aftermath of the war in the Middle East, fertilizer prices have risen, agricultural material prices are fluctuating, and the farming environment is becoming tougher due to weather changes," adding, "I would like to thank our farmers, who quietly take responsibility for our people's food supply and food security." She continued, "The government has drawn up an all-time record agricultural budget of
22.2 trillion won for next year, up more than 10% from this year," emphasizing, "First and foremost, I believe it is extremely important to create an environment where people can farm with peace of mind in order to safeguard agricultural security." Han added, "We need to introduce an agricultural price stabilization system, and the reorganization of disaster relief funds also lies ahead of us.
We are also preparing a retirement pension for farmers," pledging, "We will actively support agricultural innovation as a strategic industry." She also urged, "We must prepare for the future of agriculture by newly investing in physical AI, such as artificial intelligence (AI) agricultural machinery and farming robots, so that we can shape the future of agriculture together with young people," adding, "We also need
to continually develop K-food exports as a future growth engine." At the start of her address, Han mentioned shaking hands with the award recipients, remarking that "it felt like holding my mother's hand." (Photo: Yonhap News) ※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
