▲ Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ran appearing on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus"
Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-ran stated today (September 2) that the operation of the smart consumption app will be expanded nationwide next year.
Appearing on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" today (September 2), Minister Song made the remarks while announcing that a location-based smart consumption app (smart consumption platform) providing price and discount information for agricultural and livestock products will be pilot-tested starting this month in five regions (Suwon, Wonju, Cheongju, Jeonju, and Changwon).
Minister Song explained, "We have created an app that lets you know where you can buy agricultural and livestock products the cheapest in your local area," adding, "Just by entering the app, you can also check discount information."
She also introduced, "If you want to make japchae, it tells you what ingredients are needed and guides you to the place within a 2-kilometer radius of your current location where you can purchase all these ingredients together at the lowest price."
Minister Song also elaborated on the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' "Chuseok Livelihood Stabilization Measures for the Agriculture and Rural Sectors" reported at the Cabinet meeting held at the presidential office yesterday (September 1), as well as next year's budget bill, which was organized at 22,221.5 billion won, a 10.4% (2,085.3 billion won) increase compared to this year.
Minister Song introduced, "In terms of absolute amount and growth rate, this is the largest scale in history since 2000," and noted, "A key feature is the large number of new projects."
In particular, for coexistence with agriculture and rural communities, the Ministry allocated 200 billion won in government contributions for the first time to the "Rural-Urban Win-Win Cooperation Fund," which has previously been formed centered on private contributions.
The Rural-Urban Win-Win Cooperation Fund is a fund established in 2017 to support farmers and fishermen following the ratification of the South Korea-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The original intention was to support rural areas and farmers and fishermen through funds created by voluntary corporate contributions.
Although the target was to raise 1 trillion won over 10 years, the cumulative raised amount as of August of last year was approximately 278 billion won, stagnating at 30.9% of the target.
Consequently, the sunset date for the fund has been extended from the initial 2027 to 2037.
Regarding the government's first-ever contribution to the Rural-Urban Win-Win Cooperation Fund, Minister Song emphasized, "We will hold open competitions for what farmers want and discuss with organizations so that it can be used comfortably," adding, "We expect that this will serve as an opportunity for corporations to take more interest and make larger contributions moving forward."
(Photo: Capture from MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" YouTube screen, Yonhap News)
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