1. Related Current Situation

• (Creation of Space for Desirable Rural Area)Due to the preference for contactless and low-density environment, it is expected that more urban residents would opt for migrating to rural areas after the COVID-19 pandemic.
  * The inclination of returning to agriculture and rural areas among urban residents increased from 34.6% to 41.4% (‘20.12, KREI).
  • Until now, service infrastructure was supplemented by improving* the dwelling conditions of aged and poor houses, supplying SOC, Social Overhead Capital, for living** and expanding a transportation model tailored to rural areas.(in 82 cities and guns)
    * For the recent 3 years (’18~‘20), repaired 23,260 unoccupied houses and 18,092 aged poor houses
    ** Living SOC Complex Cente, (accumulated): (‘17) 369 sites → (’18) 488 → (‘19) 589 → (’20) 693
  • Nevertheless, compared to urban areas, weak infrastructures in rural areas are stumbling blocks, such as dwelling environment, education, childcare, medical service, and culture
    ⇨ Comprehensive maintenance and improvement of the space in rural areas are necessary in preparation for the urban migration to rural area

• (More inclusive Agriculture and Rural Area) Promote inclusive policies such as the provision of social services by social farms and the expansion of local foods to stabilize the income of small-scale farms
  * ① Supply proportion of local foods (‘19→’20): Innovative cities (27.2%→37.1), Guns (36.1→43.3), Local governments (25.9→33.1)
  ② Farmhouses participating in a direct store and consumer members: (‘19) 23 thousand farmhouses, 1.36 million people → (’20) 36 thousand farmhouses, 4.38 million people
  • Introduced a demonstrative support program for agro-foods such as provision of fruits for elementary school students under childcare classes, and agro-food voucher program to secure the right to eat healthy food for the vulnerable.br> * Fruits for childcare classes at elementary schools (‘18~), eco-friendly packages for pregnant women (’20~), agro-food vouchers program (‘20~)
  • Concerns are mounting over the diet of the vulnerable, as the low income households are buying less groceries due to COVID-19.
    * The expenses for foods and drinks of the households with 1 million won monthly income decreased by 2.1% in the first quarter of 2020, while that of the households whose monthly income is 2 million and higher increased by 4 to 18% (’20.11, KREI)
    ⇨ Agriculture and rural areas should play bigger social role in providing healthy food to the vulnerable in urban and rural areas, small scale farmers and elderly farmers.

2. Promotion Plan

• (New Deal to Regenerate Farming Areas) Promote the comprehensive reorganization of farming areas by establishing 'Space Plan for Farming Areas' through the collaboration with relevant department

• • (Space Plan) Establish the space plan for areas (5 sites, February~) which require the urgent improvement of settlement environment such as factory, livestock pens, new renewable energy, etc and promote the enactment of basis laws
  • (Living by SOC·Dwelling) Consider the distribution and forecast of population, service facilities and transportation network to supply an optimum service and expand dwelling infrastructure specialized to farming areas
    * Goal by Complex Center for Living by SOC (accumulated): (’20) 693 sites (accumulated) → (’21) 797 → (‘22) 900
  • (Agreement of Farming Area) To improve the settlement conditions of farming areas such as living by SOC and basic infrastructure, expand 'Agreement of Farming Area' in that government and local government invest jointly (’20: 9 sites → ‘21: 20)

• (Activation of Return to Agriculture and Farming Areas) Establish a two way platform which is comprehensively provided for a person who wishes to return to agriculture and farming area from the local base policy to the information of jobs and welfare (~’23)
  • Introduce a program, 'Live in Farming Area', to dwell for maximum 6 months in advance and to experience farming before moving to a farming area (89 areas in cities and guns, 500 households, March~)

• (Safety Network in Agriculture and Farming Areas) Strengthen a social safety network for vulnerable social groups in farming areas by utilizing social farm and NongHyup.
  • (Social Agriculture) Expand social farms that interconnect and provide the services of agricultural activities and cares (30 sites → 60) and discover a care model for each local unit (2 sites)
    - Enacted the basis laws to regulate the conditions of social farm and introduce the designation system (September)
  • (Local Foods) Support the establishment of the production and supply system (Organization, contract production, etc) for local foods based on the food plan for each region
    - Expand the proportion of participation in local foods by farms with small-scale and old age and support the untact marketing* in response to COVID-19
    * In connection with NH Mall (Online) and local foods' direct stores (offline), establish a delivery system for short distance
  • (Employment Safety Network) Review a measure to apply employment insurance for farmers, which reflects the distinct characteristic of agricultural field according to ｢Road Map Applied with Nationwide Employment Insurance｣
    - Identify the income of farmhouses and consider the distinct characteristic of business site and agriculture to specify the application measure for each issue such as the definition of employment situation, namely closed business and unemployment

• (Strengthened Accessibility to Food Varieties for Vulnerable Social Group) Integrate the project in individual promotion to support agricultural products for vulnerable social groups such as voucher for agricultural foods and review a measure to expand and restructure.
  • Prepare an effective analysis (June) and an integrated measure (December) for 3 projects in promotion (Fruits & snacks, eco-friendly agriculture product package for pregnant women, voucher) as a demonstrative project until now