농지유동화 실태와 정책과제

Abstract

최근 농가 수가 늘어나고 호당 경지면적이 줄어드는 현상이 나타나고 있다. 농업구조 시각에서 보면 바람직하다고 볼 수 없는 이 현상에 대하여 보다 상세한 실태조사와 원인 분석이 필요하지만, 아직 이에 대한 연구가 이루어지지 않고 있다. 농업구조 분석 차원에서 규명해야 할 사항 중에는 특히 이전과는 다른 양상을 보이는 2000년대 농가규모별 계층 변화가 어떻게 진행되어 왔는지, 이 결과 농업구조는 어떠한 구성과 특성을 보여주고 있는지에 대한 분석이 필요하다.

이 연구는 농지거래 및 임대차에 의한 농지유동화 실태를 조사하여 현재의 농업구조를 진단하고, 농업구조정책 차원에서 농지유동화 관련 제도 및 정책의 개선사항을 검토하여 정책과제를 제시하는 데 그 목적이 있다.

농업구조개선 차원에서 농지유동화를 촉진하는 방안은 농지제도를 개편하는 것과 고령 농업경영주에 대한 경영이양사업을 단계적으로 추진하는 것이다.

농지제도 개편의 기본방향은 궁극적으로 농지소유와 임대차에 대한 규제를 폐지하여 완전자유화 하되, 그 전제조건으로 현행 소규모 필지별 전용제도를 대신할 수 있는 계획적, 집단적 농지전용제도로 확립하는 것이다. 그래야만 농지에 대한 투기적 수요를 차단하고 농지유동화를 촉진할 수 있다.

영농규모화를 위해 현 단계에서 실시해야 할 정책과제는 65세 이상 농업인 전체를 영농은퇴의 유도대상으로 하는 것이 아니라, 75세 이상의 농업경영주를 영농은퇴의 일차적 대상으로 하여 경영이양을 추진한다. 다음 단계로 70세 이상 농업경영주의 경영이양을 추진하는 단계적 실행방안을 도입한다.

The purposes of this study are to analyze the current agricultural structure through the examination of agricultural land circulation and to suggest political tasks to activate farmland circulation. The volume of farmland transactions has been gradually increasing in the 2000s and the transacted land accounted for 4 to 6 percent of the total agricultural land in size. This ratio of transacted land is not insignificant even compared to foreign countries like Germany. Thus, it can be said that farmland transactions took place without difficulty on the quantitative side. Farmland circulation had different effects on farmland according to farm household types. The circulation of land transactions has influenced the farm households with land under 0.5ha to reduce their farmland whereas farm households with land over 3ha were influenced to expand their enterprises by accumulating agricultural land. (The reduction of farmland in the farm households with land under 0.5ha was characterized by a decrease in the farmland under farmers' ownership.) It is because the land transactions were made partly by the "under 0.5ha" farm households who want to farm on a small land under their ownership. On the other hand, land transactions were also made by the "over 3ha" farm households who expand their enterprise through land purchase and tenancy. The land tenancy trend in the 2000s shows that the total amount of leased farmland was gradually increasing until 2004, when it started to decrease. This can be attributed to the fact that there are factors that restrict or at least not facilitate the circulation of farmland tenancy. However, altering and renewing land tenancy contracts within leased farmlands have contributed to the active circulation of land tenancy, which is estimated to account for 10% of the total agricultural land and one fifth of the total leased farmland. Through this process, farm households with land over 3ha are expanding their enterprise. The average size of farmland per household resulted by land circulation has not been increasing recently, but rather slightly decreased since 2004. It is mainly because the decrease rate of farm households is not high enough to exceed the decrease rate of agricultural land. In the year 2006, the average size of farmland per household is estimated to have been 1.45ha. Desirable measures to facilitate the circulation of agricultural land are to restructure the farmland system institutionally and to politically promote a project on handing over the enterprises of eldest farmers. The principle to restructure the farmland system is ultimately to abolish all restrictions on farmland ownership and tenancy. But this goal should be attained only when a planned diversion system of agricultural land can replace the current diversion of small and dispersed lands for use. When this is realized, it will boost the circulation of farmland without speculative demand for agricultural land. In order to improve the agricultural structure, two measures on handing over farmlands should be phased in as follows: First, the introduction of a handover project for farmers over 75 years of age as primary subjects. Second, the continuation of handover projects for farmers over 70 years and for farmers over 65 years of age as next subjects.

Researchers: Soo-Suk Kim, Joo-Nyung Heo Research period: 2007. 4. - 2007. 8. E-mail address: soosuk@krei.re.kr, knuhjn@krei.re.kr