Research Reports
2013 Public Opinion Survey on Agriculture and Rural Villages
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AuthorKim, Dongweon
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Publication Date2013.12.30
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Original
The 2013 Public Opinion Survey on Agriculture and Rural Villages was conducted to 1,500 urban people and 552 farmers through face to face interviews and mail surveys for a month from October 2013 for research.
According to the survey, farmers’ dissatisfaction factors in farming were the increase in production costs and the decrease in incomes. Their demand for the measures to stabilize income was big. They considered labor shortage, the expansion of FTAs, and the increase in production costs as factors threatening management. Practical solutions are needed to address their big demand for labor in particular.
As for tax benefits for farmers, 34.1% of urban people were positive, more than twice negative answers (15.4%). Also, 50.1% of city people agreed to the increase in budgets for rural welfare, about 4 times those who opposed (12.9%).
29.9% of urban people and 24.8% of farmers were satisfied with the government’s new agricultural policy paradigm, of which the basis is the establishment of happy farming and fishing villages. In both groups, those satisfied outnumbered those dissatisfied (11.0% of city people and 20.1% of farmers).
Among the directions of the new agricultural policy, the highest expectation of farmers was on welfare policies (36.4%), followed by income policies (32.6%), consumption and distribution (24.8%), and agricultural policies (22.1%).
Among the 5 major tasks of agricultural polices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA), farmers considered stable incomes of customized farms most important, while a stable supply of safe agrifood was most important for urban people.
On the creative economy including the 6th industrialization, 48.0% of farmers didn’t know the contents well. It means that education and publicity should be strengthened. About the most important policy issue in 2014, farmers said that it was the Korea-China FTA, followed by the improvement of the distribution structure of agricultural products, the end of the rice tariffication delay, and the increase in the MAFRA’s budget, showing much interest in policy issues.
48.4% of urban people and 34.6% of farmers were satisfied with the residential environment, more than those dissatisfied (22.3% of farmers and 8.3% of urban people).
We measured the city people’s and farmers’ happiness levels of 5 areas including home life and health, and converted the happiness index to 100 points. The farmers’ index was 67, and the urban people’s index 70, somewhat higher than the Gross National Happiness Index surveyed before.
Researchers: Dong-Weon Kim, Hye-Jin Park
Research period: 2013. 1. ~ 2013. 12.
E-mail address: dongweon@krei.re.kr
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