S. Korean farmers` debt up sharply in past six years: report

SEOUL, Oct. 6 (Yonhap) -- The size of debt incurred by local farmers has shot up
sharply in the past six years, affecting the competitiveness of the country's
agriculture sector, a government report said Monday.

The report submitted to the parliamentary audit by the Ministry for Food,
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said average debt for farming households
reached 29.9 million won (US$23,600) as of last year, an increase of 50.5 percent
from 19.8 million in 2002.
It also noted that earnings for farming households jumped 30.6 percent to 31.9
million per year, indicating that the rise in debt outpaced income growth.
The ministry said that increased investment in equipment, rising raw material
prices, including seeds, and salaries given to workers have fueled debt, adding
that measures are being examined to help reduce the burden on farmers.
Greater debt financing results in higher costs that get reflected in prices on
farm goods, which could hurt local produce consumption in the face of cheap
imports from abroad.
"Higher costs also affect the ability of local products to make inroads into
foreign markets that are needed to ensure economy of scale and more profits," a
ministry official said.
The latest report also said debts among fishing households have skyrocketed 96.7
percent to 34.4 million in the cited period, while earnings gained 40.6 percent
to little over 30 million won a year.
Lawmakers who took part in the audit raised concerns about the widening gap in
earnings between farming households.
Rep. Jo Jin-rae said the top 20 percent of farmers earned 11.3 times more than
the bottom fifth.
"The disparity has actually grown despite the 2.8 trillion won injected by the
government over the past decade to help reduce earning gaps," the lawmaker from
the ruling Grand National Party said. He pointed out that in 2004 the difference
in earnings was 9.4 times.
Other parliamentary members called on the farm ministry to get farmers to reduce
the use of antibiotics in livestock.
Rep. Cho Bae-sook said South Korean livestock received 37 times more antibiotics
than those raised in Australia.
She said that even the United States, which uses 10-15 times more drugs on
animals, gave less than local livestock growers.
On average a locally raised livestock got 0.75 kilograms of antibiotics per ton
of meat in 2006, the opposition Democratic Party lawmaker said.