[르포] “I’ve never seen a landlord farming”… LH speculation called poor farmland management

Enter 2021.03.11 06:00

A small factory in a parts company in Okgil-dong, Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, visited on the afternoon of the 9th. As I walked into the front door, I saw a land on the right that looked like a small park. It seems that the idle space was made as a shelter, but in fact, this land is a temple where farming is required. The factory is divided into 4○○ address and the field is divided into 4○○-1. The owners of the two parcels are the same. There were no traces of planting crops in this field, which was hard to see from outside due to the fence outside. Only a few seedlings were planted. An official of the tenant company said, “I have never seen the landowner farm,” and “I wonder if I should come here once or twice a year.”

The Constitution stipulates the principle of light free ownership (only farmers can have farmland), and the Farmland Law also prohibits ownership of farmland unless it is for self-cultivation purposes, but the reality is the opposite.

The key to the LH employee’s purchase of farmland is ▲use of undisclosed information ▲suspects of illegal acquisition of farmland. A nearby farmer said, “Is this the first time you’ve seen a land where you only buy the land and don’t farm properly?” And said.

◇ “There was something to burst”… Farmland that is not farmed nationwide

In the area of ​​Okgil-dong, Bucheon, where the reporter visited on this day, there were many fallowed lands just a few days ahead of the spring equinox (spring equinox (March 20)), where the farmers’ hands became busy while plowing rice fields in earnest.

This area is not a place where large-scale land compensation is planned like in the 3rd new city, but the private investment project for the Gwangmyeong-Seoul Expressway was promoted from 2012, and demand for land compensation was partially inflowed. If the land you own is included in the highway site, you can receive land compensation. Land compensation began in 2019 and is in progress. Some parcels were under construction as land compensation was completed.

On farmland that was not covered by land compensation, land that was not properly farmed was often seen. LH employees purchased a land (5905㎡) in Mujinae-dong, Siheung-si in 2018, and then plowed the cabbage field and planted willows. In this area, there were fields with only seedlings and lands with lush weeds.

Kim Mo (78), a farmer who was plowing a field nearby, met with a reporter and said, “It is not yesterday that people in Seoul buy land, plant only a few trees, and imitate farming.” Except for farmland), virtually all farmland is subject to speculation.”

Park Mo (65), a nearby farmer, said, “Illegal purchase of farmland even though you are not a farmer has been rampant for a long period of time.” He added, “I was angry when I heard that even LH employees had speculated on the farmland.”

◇ Farmland management in famous offices… Agricultural management plan at will

Why isn’t the principle of’If you don’t farm, you can’t buy farmland’? First of all, the procedure that must be taken to purchase farmland is not well known.

A person who intends to acquire farmland must submit an agricultural management plan to the local government and then obtain a farmland acquisition qualification certificate. However, it turned out that LH employees had poorly prepared agricultural management plans by purchasing land in Gwarim-dong and Mujinae-dong, Siheung City.

According to the data submitted by Siheung City by the Democratic Party’s office for special use, they purchased land and listed them as ‘7 years of farming experience’ and’no agricultural machinery and equipment’. There were also a lot of blanks. Even though it was written in a mess, the farmland acquisition qualification was issued.

Follow-up management is also poor. The government and local governments conduct annual surveys on the use of farmland, but they can avoid the survey by imitating farming, such as planting seedlings. Even if it is caught in a fact-finding investigation, there is a hole to escape. When an actual condition investigation is detected, the compulsory performance fund and the obligation to dispose of farmland are given through a hearing.

Kwang-Seok Chae, a research fellow at the Korea Rural Economic Institute, said in a report, “The survey on the actual condition of farmland use is low due to the granting of a deferred opportunity.” , “There are cases in which illegal use of farmland (lease) occurs,” he pointed out. Researcher Chae said, “It is necessary to establish a systematic farmland management system by establishing an organization to identify and manage rights transfer information such as farmland ownership and use rights.”