Research Reports
Prospects and Changes in the Socio-Economic Characteristics of Farm Households
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AuthorKim, Jeongho
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Publication Date2007.12.01
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Original
This study aims to analyze the socio-economic characteristics and the management structure of farm households and project future changes. In particular, it theoretically reviews the dynamic changes of family farms, depicting the actual state and projecting future changes using statistical data and an actual case study on the basis of which we drew political implications to improve the size and quality of farm households and government policies on agricultural structure.
As a result of the industrial progress worldwide and social changes such as aging, the role and size of family farming is decreasing. Nevertheless, industrialized countries are recognizing the importance of family farming, setting up various policies more than ever.
The characteristics of a Korean farm household as an agricultural management unit are becoming weaker. First, family structure has become fragile by aging and atomized family. The average number of farm family members decreased to 2.7 persons per farm household in 2005 from 6 in 1960. As a result, one-generation households and one-person households became a main stream. The rate of households having a farming successor sharply declined to 3.5% in 2005 from 16.4% in 1990.
The farmland area per farming household has been increasing as the number of farming households decreased at a much more faster pace than the relatively slower decline in cultivated lands. Specifically, since the mid-1990s, agricultural resources such as land and livestock have been concentrated on large farming households. For that reason, the expansion in farming scale quickly spread while the rest small farms operated by old farmers remained stagnant. According to the 2005 Agriculture Census, the rate of farming households under 0.5ha stood at 37.3% (470,000 farming households) and the rate of farming households run by farmers aged over 65 years was 48%. Problems related to small and old-age farming households are serious and policies to resolve these problems are urgent.
Specialization of agricultural management can be explained in terms of labor and farming types. By labor types, the rate of full-time farming has been increasing since 1996 while the part-time farming where agricultural income is more than non-farm income has been decreasing. By farming types, staple cultivation was at the center of Korean agriculture up to the late 1970s and cash-crop productions began from 1980 onward. At present, the growth trend of income from livestock, specialty crops, and floriculture is being reversed by the cultivation of income-stable rice, fruit, and vegetables.
As stated above, the characteristics of farming households as agricultural management entities have weakened and the succession of their sustainable management is not clear due to the lack of successors and farmers newly starting an agricultural management. Also, the vitality of rural society fell sharply because old and small farming households have become the center of rural region.
From now on, the focus of agricultural policy has to be changed from family farming households to various agricultural management entities. It is necessary to set up customized agricultural policies and foster sound family farming households. To accomplish customized agricultural policies, it is important to transform the `farming household registration system' into an `agricultural management registration system.' A retirement system for agricultural management and a social security system for old farmers will have to be set up. Also, it is important to foster local agricultural organizations to assist farming households and make full use of local agricultural resources and circumstances.
Researchers: Kim Jeong-Ho, Park Moon-Ho, Lee Young-Ho
E-mail address: jhkim@krei.re.kr
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