About 20 employees assist leaf tobacco growers in North Jeolla Province's Gimje

Company raises domestic leaf purchase price, provides 400 million won in welfare support

[Provided by KT&G]
[Provided by KT&G]

KT&G said it conducted volunteer activities Wednesday in the Bongnam-myeon area of Gimje, North Jeolla Province, to help leaf tobacco farmers struggling with labor shortages during the harvest season.

About 20 employees took part in the effort. KT&G has visited leaf tobacco farms every year since 2007, carrying out both spring seedling transplanting and harvest volunteer work — a tradition now in its 20th year. Leaf tobacco farming in midsummer is difficult to mechanize and relies largely on manual labor, making extra hands essential.

In May, KT&G provided 400 million won ($306,000) in welfare support funds to cover health checkup costs and children's tuition for leaf tobacco growers. Since 2013, a cumulative total of 16,500 growers have benefited from the program. The company also decided to raise its domestic leaf purchase price to ease the burden on farmers facing high fuel costs and rising labor expenses. The total purchase price is expected to increase by about 2.2 billion won compared with last year.

"We have continued seedling transplanting and harvest volunteer work for 20 years to support farming households that struggle to secure labor," said Jeong Seong-heon, head of KT&G's procurement operations division. "We will keep providing various forms of support to grow together with farmers."


andy@heraldcorp.com