By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Farmers are expected to see a significant drop in their annual income with the livestock industry and fruit growers hit particularly hard due to the rising prices of feed, fertilizer and fuel oil on top of a drop in sales.
The Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) said Monday that the livestock industry and farmers growing turnips, cabbages and tangerines will suffer from a fall of up to 70 percent in their annual income.
According to the government-affiliated research center, the farming industry's combined income may decline to 11.49 trillion won in 2008, down 10.3 percent from 12.81 trillion last year.
Vegetable farmers are expected to suffer a drop by 28 percent to 2.53 trillion won year-on-year. Orchards are expected to suffer a drop of 26 percent. KREI expects livestock farms will also see a decrease of 17.2 percent to 1.44 trillion won.
Cabbage growers are expected to suffer from a nearly 50 percent drop in their income, while tangerine growers' income will drop by 79 percent. Hanwoo or Korean cattle raisers are expected to see a drop of 49 percent in their income, with the combined income of the industry to drop 532 billion won from 1. 49 trillion won.
Expenditures for fertilizer and pesticides are forecast to jump 113 percent on a yearly basis.
The won's steep decline adds to the farmers' burden.
Import raw material prices jumped by 47 percent in October from a year ago.
The state-funded body added the farming industry's total income will further drop to 8.36 trillion won by 2012, if the nation's average growth rate stalls 2 percent from next year with the won-dollar rate and oil prices staying at 1,400 won and $80 level, respectively.
"The government is strongly advised to subsidize farmers," Kwon Oh-bok, a KREI researcher said.
Korea still has some four million people or a shade under 10 percent of the total population engaged in agriculture. But the number of farmers has been on a steady decline because of a growing number of young people moving to cities.
A free trade agreement with the United States is also expected to give another jolt to the Korean agricultural industry, when and if it is ratified.
Business groups are demanding prompt ratification of the agreement. But farmers here demanded more countermeasures fearing they will not be able to compete with cheap imported products.