As public attention grows around protecting critical sectors — from semiconductor security to cultural security — experts broadly agree that food security remains the most enduring and essential safeguard for any community, transcending time and geography.
Yet awareness of food security has been somewhat overshadowed by the rise of advanced industries, even as conditions on the ground are deteriorating. Climate change has introduced new threats to agricultural stability, making the food security environment increasingly difficult.
In response, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province announced Saturday that it would continue providing policy insurance support for agricultural disasters. It added that it has committed substantial budgets to disaster prevention and farm management stabilization.
The province said it would simultaneously pursue recovery support to help disaster-affected farms resume operations quickly, disaster prevention projects, and policy insurance and price stabilization programs to ensure meaningful compensation for farmers hit by natural disasters — all as part of its response to agricultural disasters growing in both frequency and scale due to climate change.
On disaster prevention, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province is carrying out support activities across three areas: facility support for horticultural crops, livestock and irrigation infrastructure; modernization of production facilities to address climate change; and installation of drainage systems in flood-prone areas.
The province has allocated 21.7 billion won ($16 million) across nine projects in the horticultural sector — including programs to boost fruit tree competitiveness and modernize horticultural and specialty crop production facilities — 15 billion won across three projects in the livestock sector covering barn facility modernization and smart livestock facility support, and 55.1 billion won across four projects and 63 districts in the irrigation sector for agricultural infrastructure maintenance and drainage improvement.
To cover crop losses from natural disasters, the province is minimizing farmers' management losses through crop disaster insurance and agricultural income stabilization insurance support programs.
The agricultural income stabilization insurance covers not only production losses caused by natural disasters but also income declines resulting from falling agricultural prices, a provincial official said. The program supports farm income and management stability at a time when extreme weather and agricultural price volatility are expanding.
The province subsidizes 90 percent of total insurance premiums, leaving farmers responsible for only 10 percent. Registered farmers and agricultural corporations are eligible for 55.2 billion won in policy insurance support designed to protect against price and volume fluctuation risks.
The crop disaster insurance covers 78 items in total, including apples, pears, rice, potatoes and cabbage, while the agricultural income stabilization insurance covers 20 items, including autumn cabbage and highland potatoes.
"As climate change drives up both the frequency and scale of agricultural disasters, we will continue pushing forward with related policies — from disaster prevention to damage compensation — so that farmers can maintain stable operations," said Im Won-taek, head of the eco-friendly agriculture division at Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province.
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