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Although the government has spent about W130 trillion on support for the agricultural sector over the last 15 years, farmers are worse off than before (US$1=W1,411). During the period, farm household debts have increased more than their income, and the income gap between urban and rural areas has grown.
The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Monday said the government injected a total of W127.15 trillion into the farming sector from 1992 until 2007.
But the debts of farming households soared by a whopping 427 percent or W24.26 million per farm household during the same period, far higher than the income increase of 120 percent or W17.45 million.
Farm household income was 89.1 percent of an urban workersĄŻ in 1992 but dropped to 72.5 percent in 2007.
The reason is that allocation of the agricultural budget was focused on one-off distribution of cash rather than on productive long-term measures aimed at enhancing competitiveness, experts say.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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