Farmers' Path: “Agricultural Self-Help Fund Act Lacking Farmers’ Autonomy and Full of Government Control”

[Korea Agricultural Policy News Reporter Han Ui-jin] Criticism from farmers' organizations has erupted regarding the "Act on the Establishment and Operation of Agricultural Self-Help Funds and the Promotion of Self-Help Fund Organizations (Agricultural Self-Help Fund Act)," which was passed by the Bill Review Subcommittee of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, and Fisheries Committee on the 29th of last month. Critics point out that the bill attempts to subordinate self-help fund organizations, which should be organized and operated based on farmers' autonomy, under the influence of the government. On the 1st, "Farmers' Path with the People" (Standing Representative Yoon Il-kwon, Farmers' Path) issued a press release stating that the draft of the "Agricultural Self-Help Fund Act" passed by the Bill Review Subcommittee “thoroughly ignores the voices from the field; autonomy and independence are nowhere to be found, replaced by government management, supervision, and control mechanisms.”