농업·농촌에 대한 2010년 국민의식 조사 결과

Abstract

2010년 농업계는 그야말로 다사다난했던 한 해였다. 연초 꽃샘추위로 인한 과일의 동해 피해, 쌀값 하락, 이상기후로 인한 배추 가격 파동과 과일·채소 가격 상승에 이어 11월 말에는 안동에서 발생한 구제역이 전국으로 확산되어 큰 피해를 입기도 하였다. 10월에는 한･EU FTA 체결, 12월에는 한･미 FTA 추가협상이 타결되었고 호주를 비롯한 농산물 수출국 및 중국 등과 FTA가 추진되는 등 세계화가 급속하게 진전되고 있다.

한국농촌경제연구원은 이같은 농업분야 현안과 환경의 변화에 대해 국민의 견해와 의견을 묻고 정책수요를 파악하고자 여론조사를 실시하였다.

이번 조사는 도시민의 식품소비와 농업·농촌 수요, 현정부의 농업정책에 대한 평가와 향후 추진되길 원하는 정책수요를 파악하고, 농촌개발, 그리고 고령화된 농촌지역에서 복지서비스 향상 방안은 무엇인지 파악하고자 하였다.

조사는 2010년 10월 19일~11월 24일에 도시민과 농업인, 전문가 그룹 등 국민 3,800여 명을 대상으로 실시하였고, 조사결과는 도시민 1,500명, 농업인 816명, 전문가 64명이 참여한 유효 조사표 2,380건을 확보하여 분석하였다.

A study called "2010 Survey on Perceptions of Agriculture and Farming Villages" was conducted by Korea Rural Economy Institute (KREI). According to the survey, urban residents have low interest in problems and policies related to agriculture and farming villages, and plans are needed to draw the attention of consumers to rural problems. The survey was conducted to identify research areas and make policy suggestions.

In the survey 1,500 urbanites, 816 farmers, and 64 experts participated. Of the total respondents, those who said that "Korean agriculture has a great potential for development" jumped to 53.4%, up 17.6% from 4 years ago. An increase in positive perception was also evident as the respondents who said "Korea has international competitiveness" rose to 47.6%, an increase of 12.4%.

On the question of willingness to buy foreign agricultural products when the domestic market fully opens to foreign competition, 45.1% of city dwellers said that they would still buy Korean products even if they had to pay more. This represents a rise of 9.1% compared to the survey result of 2006 (36.0%).

The ratio of those supporting reducing agricultural investment nearly doubled to 30.0% (2010) from 16.0% (2007). Only 40.0% of urbanites thought that problems related to agriculture and farming villages impact them, and 3 out of 10 (30.7%) are interested in policies related to agriculture and farming villages. The percentage of urban residents who recognize the public value of agriculture and rural farms amounted to 55.9%, showing a continued decreasing trend for the third year in a row.

Those with an inclination to return to a rural area either stayed the same or declined (47.7%), suggesting a need for causal analysis. Promotion of rural life through dissemination of success stories of those who have established an economic base for farming was ranked as the most important factor in taking up a farming business.

On major policy issues for 2010, farmers and experts most frequently supported "developing food industries to globalize Korean food" and "increasing agricultural exports." Any achievements in "overstocked rice," "supply and demand balance of farm products" and "innovations in co-operatives" were viewed as less significant. In the meantime, "income stability" and "innovations in distribution" were chosen to be the most important agricultural policies to pursue in 2011.

On the question of retirement, 18.6% of farmers said that they have not prepared for old age in advance. Only 7.7% said their preparations for retirement are sufficient. The results show that farmers have interest in the issue and that there is a need for education.

Job satisfaction among farmers has increased steadily over the past 5 years to 34.0%. Their reasons for the satisfaction were "no mandatory retirement age" (48.0%) and "working in a natural setting" (23.0%).

Researchers: Dong-Weon Kim and Hye-Jin Park E-mail address: dongweon@krei.re.kr, frog78@krei.re.kr