Research Reports
2010 Survey on Perceptions of Agriculture and Farming Villages
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AuthorKim, Dongweon
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Publication Date2010.12.01
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Original
A study called "2010 Survey on Perceptions of Agriculture and Farming Villages" was conducted by Korea Rural Economy Institute (KREI). According to the survey, urban residents have low interest in problems and policies related to agriculture and farming villages, and plans are needed to draw the attention of consumers to rural problems. The survey was conducted to identify research areas and make policy suggestions.
In the survey 1,500 urbanites, 816 farmers, and 64 experts participated. Of the total respondents, those who said that "Korean agriculture has a great potential for development" jumped to 53.4%, up 17.6% from 4 years ago. An increase in positive perception was also evident as the respondents who said "Korea has international competitiveness" rose to 47.6%, an increase of 12.4%.
On the question of willingness to buy foreign agricultural products when the domestic market fully opens to foreign competition, 45.1% of city dwellers said that they would still buy Korean products even if they had to pay more. This represents a rise of 9.1% compared to the survey result of 2006 (36.0%).
The ratio of those supporting reducing agricultural investment nearly doubled to 30.0% (2010) from 16.0% (2007). Only 40.0% of urbanites thought that problems related to agriculture and farming villages impact them, and 3 out of 10 (30.7%) are interested in policies related to agriculture and farming villages. The percentage of urban residents who recognize the public value of agriculture and rural farms amounted to 55.9%, showing a continued decreasing trend for the third year in a row.
Those with an inclination to return to a rural area either stayed the same or declined (47.7%), suggesting a need for causal analysis. Promotion of rural life through dissemination of success stories of those who have established an economic base for farming was ranked as the most important factor in taking up a farming business.
On major policy issues for 2010, farmers and experts most frequently supported "developing food industries to globalize Korean food" and "increasing agricultural exports." Any achievements in "overstocked rice," "supply and demand balance of farm products" and "innovations in co-operatives" were viewed as less significant. In the meantime, "income stability" and "innovations in distribution" were chosen to be the most important agricultural policies to pursue in 2011.
On the question of retirement, 18.6% of farmers said that they have not prepared for old age in advance. Only 7.7% said their preparations for retirement are sufficient. The results show that farmers have interest in the issue and that there is a need for education.
Job satisfaction among farmers has increased steadily over the past 5 years to 34.0%. Their reasons for the satisfaction were "no mandatory retirement age" (48.0%) and "working in a natural setting" (23.0%).
Researchers: Dong-Weon Kim and Hye-Jin Park
E-mail address: dongweon@krei.re.kr, frog78@krei.re.kr
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