While the prices of vegetables have soared to the point where people are talking about ‘golden cabbage’ and ‘golden peach’, it has been revealed that the ‘Agricultural and Livestock Product Discount Support Project’, which the government is implementing to ease the burden of prices on consumers’ shopping carts, is being promoted without local arrangements. In particular, looking at the completed settlement, it is pointed out that 63% (KRW 68.988 billion) of the budget was concentrated in large supermarkets mainly located in large cities, deepening the concentration in the metropolitan area.
According to data submitted by People Power Party lawmaker Park Deok-heum, a member of the National Assembly’s Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee, from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on the 7th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is distributing agricultural and livestock products, Lunar New Year and Chuseok holiday products, and kimchi ingredients for which the consumer burden has increased due to higher prices compared to the average year. This year, a budget of 144.5 billion won was allocated to the ‘Agricultural and Livestock Product Discount Support Project’, which provides after-sale compensation for products sold to consumers at a 20% discount. Distributors such as large supermarkets, agricultural cooperatives, and traditional markets participate in the business.
However, as the government allocated subsidies to distributors without any specific guidelines such as regional distribution, it was found that the allocation amount differed greatly by region. Looking at the details of settlements completed at offline retailers as of June this year (a total of 108.617 billion won), 27.092 billion won was provided to Gyeonggi Province and 25.959 billion won to Seoul. About 58% (53.051 billion won) was concentrated in Seoul and Gyeonggi. On the other hand, Gwangju’s amount was only 2.547 billion won, Jeonnam’s was 2.712 billion won, and Jeju’s was only 1.272 billion won. The support budget for large supermarkets was also concentrated in the metropolitan area, including Gyeonggi (KRW 21.546 billion) and Seoul (KRW 17.308 billion).
Local agricultural cooperatives and traditional markets, which are highly dependent on use in rural and fishing areas, were also concentrated in the metropolitan area. Local agricultural cooperatives allocated 2.59 billion won to Gyeonggi Province, but North Chungcheong Province received only 343 million won. Traditional markets also received 6.987 billion won in support in Seoul, but only 273 million won in Gangwon and 22 million won in Jeju.
Rep. Park said, “The government is providing discount support for agricultural and livestock products to all citizens in order to stabilize prices, but the policy is concentrated in only a few regions, reducing the effectiveness of the policy.” He added, “Taking into account the characteristics of large cities and rural and fishing villages, the allocation amount for each distributor is He pointed out, “We need to elaborate business guidelines so that regional arrangements can be made accordingly.”
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![[단독]’Agricultural and livestock product discount support’ implemented in response to the rapid rise in vegetable prices such as ‘Golden cabbage’, focused on the metropolitan area](https://dimg.donga.com/a/180/101/95/2/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/10/08/130176850.1.jpg "[단독]’Agricultural and livestock product discount support’ implemented in response to the rapid rise in vegetable prices such as ‘Golden cabbage’, focused on the metropolitan area")
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2024-10-08 09:24:59