Yongin City to Ease Farmers' Burden with Agricultural Machinery Rental Service Starting in May

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Yongin City, one of the representative urban-rural composite cities in Gyeonggi Province, is launching an agricultural machinery rental project ahead of the busy farming season.

According to the city on the 21st, it will rent out 177 units of 38 types of agricultural machinery to help resolve problems caused by the aging population and labor shortage in rural areas, and to help each farm gain competitiveness.

Any Yongin City resident or person who owns farmland within the city can rent after completing online safety training.

Agricultural machinery can be rented from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, but rentals are also available on Saturdays during the busy months of March to June for sowing and the harvest season of October to November.

The city also plans to provide an agricultural machinery transportation service starting next month, based on the recognition that farmers who rent the machinery have difficulty transporting it.

Agricultural machinery that can be loaded onto a 1-ton truck, such as field cultivators, can be rented and returned for 10,000 won round trip, while machinery that must be loaded onto larger trucks, such as tractors, costs 20,000 won round trip.

The city expects that by lowering the burden on farmers who lack transportation vehicles or who live far away, more farmers will be able to rent the agricultural machinery.

A city official said, "We hope that during the busy farming season, many farmers can rent and use the agricultural machinery without burden," adding, "We will continue to seek various support measures so that farms within the city can increase productivity and gain competitiveness."

Meanwhile, Yongin City has been preparing various support policies to improve agricultural productivity and provide convenience for farmers.
A representative example is the Yongin City Agricultural Machinery Rental Office, which opened in 2015.

Because agricultural machinery is expensive, it is difficult for individuals to purchase and use it. This is why each local government rents out agricultural machinery or subsidizes purchase costs.

The city has received a strong response from farmers by renting out agricultural machinery such as agricultural tractors, fertilizer spreaders, field cultivators, and potato planters.

The city has also reduced agricultural machinery rental fees by 50% for farmers experiencing economic hardship due to COVID-19.

Rental fees ranged from 10,000 won to 210,000 won depending on the machinery's purchase price, but over the past two years farmers have been using them for 5,000 won to 105,000 won.