Research Reports
A Study on Farm Animal Welfare and Policy Roadmap for Korea
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AuthorWoo, Byungjoon
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Publication Date2010.10.01
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Original
This research investigated the domestic and foreign trend of farmed animal welfare and the policy direction of introducing farmed animal welfare to the Korea. Introduction of farmed animal welfare to the Korean livestock industry is a future direction in many ways. Introducing a concept of farmed animal welfare supplies the protein of good quality to the citizen, protects the sustainability of livestock industry, and guarantees the multi-functionality characteristics of agriculture.
With consumer survey result and previous research of changing production cost, this study identifies, there can be an economic incentive of introducing animal welfare in the production phase. So far, however, we have no standard or guideline for farmed animal welfare, the result is driven mostly from the data of “anti-biotic free” and “organic” licensed farm. Furthermore, changes of transportation and slaughtering costs are not derived from data restriction. Thus we still don’t has a clear shot of economic efficiency.
When considering the inherent characteristics of public benefit and market failure in farmed animal welfare, government needs to provide proper policy support to cure such problems. In this case, with the consumer survey result, expected price premium of animal welfare products can cover an increased production cost of farm.
To introduce farmed animal welfare, this study proposes several policy options. Firstly, it is necessary to provide enough information to both producer and consumer. Especially the research which relates with farmed animal welfare is not adequate to provide scientific knowledge and proper government policy. Secondly, it is important to show a future direction of policy provision. The government now enacts a law to introduce farmed animal welfare certification scheme in a market. However, producer and consumer don’t has enough information about the certification scheme. Without any proper information, market system can’t work efficiently. Thirdly, to maximize social welfare, the government’s intervention is very important. The government can choose several policy options such as direct payment, monitoring system, and setting standard with certification. The principle of economics indicates that incentive system is the best solution to cure existing market failure problem. Finally, this study suggests a new body, tentatively named “Korea Animal Welfare Council”, to discuss and manage domestic animal welfare issues.
Researchers: Byung-Joon Woo, Duk Huh and Hyun Joong Kim
E-mail address: bjwoo@krei.re.kr
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