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A measure was legislated to allow the government to compensate farmers for the difference when the prices of essential agricultural materials such as fertilizers and feed, and agricultural energy such as duty-free oil and agricultural electricity, rise above a certain level.
At the plenary session on November 27, the National Assembly passed a bill to enact a law regarding support for essential agricultural materials, etc. to respond to supply chain risks. With this, another controversial agricultural bill has passed the threshold of the National Assembly.
The Democratic Party of Korea also pushed for legislation on the so-called ‘Essential Agricultural Materials Act’ during the previous government, but it did not come to fruition as the government acted passively due to excessive financial requirements and other reasons. However, after the ‘introduction of a national support system for essential agricultural materials’ was included in President Lee Jae-myung’s pledge when he was a presidential candidate, and the new government’s national tasks included ‘establishment of a step-by-step support system in response to the rise in prices of essential agricultural materials’, a turning point was set in the National Assembly’s discussions.
The enactment bill allows for all or part of the increase to be supported to agricultural businesses within the scope determined by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs when the prices of essential agricultural materials such as fertilizers and feeds and agricultural energy such as duty-free oil and agricultural electricity rise above a certain level. In addition, to prevent essential agricultural material companies from pre-reflecting government support amounts into product prices, companies can be excluded from support for up to five years if they receive a correction order from the Fair Trade Commission for unfair price increases or calculate product prices exceeding the set price range.
Kang Jeong-hyeon, secretary-general of the Korea Rural Leaders’ Federation, said, “We welcome the passage of the bill,” but added, “It is important to enact a thorough enforcement ordinance so that the difference in prices of essential agricultural materials can actually be implemented.”
Reporter Yang Seok-hoon
