[GLOBAL ECONOMIC TIMES] As the rice harvest approaches, female farmers are becoming increasingly anxious. This is because the price of 80kg rice is plummeting to around 160,000 won, let alone 200,000 won.
Meanwhile, female farmers belonging to the Chungnam Federation of the National Federation of Women Farmers held a press conference at the South Chungcheong Provincial Office press center on the 8th and demanded measures to address the plunge in rice prices. Criticism continued against President Yoon Seok-yeol, who is rejecting the Grain Management Act. At the press conference on this day, a picket saying ‘Let’s lower Seok-yeol Yoon and raise the price of rice’ also appeared.
These female farmers said in a press conference, "Agricultural product prices are considered the main culprit for rising prices and have become the top scapegoat for the government's public opinion campaign," adding, "Furthermore, the climate disaster caused by cold damage, hail, abnormally high temperatures, and heavy rain has reduced many farmlands to ruins." “Farmers are going through more hardships than ever before,” he said. At the same time, he complained, “Even though rice prices hit the lowest in 45 years, President Yoon Seok-yeol rejected the Grain Management Act.”
Park Yang-i, president of the Dangjin Women Farmers' Association, said, "These days, disaster messages such as heavy rain and heat waves keep coming, but farmers cannot stop working. Among agricultural products, the price that has fallen the most is the price of rice. The price of rice has not risen since 1995. We “Farmers are demanding 300 won for a bowl of rice and 260,000 won for an 80kg bag of rice,” she said.
Previously, farmers belonging to the National Farmers' Association held a rice price guarantee farmers' meeting near Seoul Station in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 6th and urged the government to 'guarantee rice prices.' President Yoon Seok-yeol promised to guarantee the price of 200,000 won for 80 kg of rice as a presidential election pledge, but it is said that it is not being kept.
Shin Ji-yeon, secretary general of the Chungcheongnam-do Federation of Women Farmers' Association, said, "The average price of rice is said to be 180,000 won, but in some areas it has fallen to 160,000 won. The price of rice continues to fall. Measures are needed. President Yoon Seok-yeol should not reject the Grain Management Act. “It will happen,” she said. The Grain Management Act aims to allow the government to purchase additional rice produced in the previous year.
Kwon Tae-ok, president of the Chungnam Federation of the National Women Farmers' Association, said, "Others are going on vacation, but female farmers can't even breathe, let alone take a vacation. The short-sighted price policy that relies on imports, inaction against climate disasters, and the destruction of agriculture are getting worse." said.
She continued, “They said they would control prices, but instead they are hitting farmers. Farmers cannot guarantee tomorrow right now. We must accept their demands before it is too late. We are only accumulating debt due to farming. If we continue like this, we will have no choice but to give up farming.” did it
Yoo Hwa-yeong, vice president of the Nonsan Women Farmers' Association, said, "It's been 8 years since I returned to farming. In the past, Nonsan had almost no natural disasters. However, it suffered flood damage last year and this year. Two greenhouses and 2,200 pyeong of farmland were submerged in water. It was so heartbreaking to see the water rising. “I was scared,” she said.
She appealed, "These days, climate disasters are becoming a daily occurrence in rural areas. Heavy rains occur regardless of the season. It does not discriminate between crops. Farmers are enduring climate disasters. The only thing that is accumulating is debt."
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