농업기계 관리제도 도입을 통한 효율적 운영 방안

Abstract

국내 농업은 고령화로 인한 노동력 부족 등으로 인해 여러 가지 어려움을 겪고 있는 가운데에서도 정부 지원을 바탕으로 한 농업기계화를 통해 농촌노동력 감소에 대응하고 있다. 이러한 노력으로 벼농사의 기계화율은 거의 100%에 도달하고 있어 노동력 부족과 안정적인 농산물 생산에 크게 기여하였다. 그러나 농기계 안전사고가 지속적 발생하고 있으며, 정확한 보유 현황도 집계되어 있지 않아 농기계산업의 선진화 기반 구축의 필요성이 계속 제기되어 왔다.

이에 농촌진흥청 농기계산업선진화추진단은 농기계 등록제도와 농기계 운전면허제도 도입, 농기계 보험제도 강화 등이 주요 핵심 사항으로 포함된 ‘농업기계 관리제도 도입방안’을 마련하여 발표하였다. 농기계 관리제도는 도입이 필요한 시책임에는 틀림이 없으나, 이로 인한 효과와 문제점의 심층적 검토는 이루어지지 않고 있다. 따라서 본 연구는 관리제도 도입에 앞서, 발생되는 장점과 단점을 비교·분석한 후 보다 효율적인 농기계 관리제도 방안을 제시하고자 수행되었다.

Even though Korean agriculture is experiencing many difficulties arising from labor shortage due to the aging of farmers, the industry is coping with the problem through mechanization of agriculture. However, safety accidents occur continuously and there isn't even a precise data on how many units of farm equipment and machinery are owned by farmers. As a result, there have been continued talks about the need to lay down a foundation to modernize the agricultural machinery industry. In response to such a need, the Rural Development Administration (RDA) prepared and released a plan to adopt an agricultural machinery management system. However, even though it is a necessary policy, there has not been an in-depth review of the effects and problems of introducing an agricultural machinery management system. Therefore, this study is conducted to present a more efficient management system by comparing the merits and demerits of introducing the system before it is introduced. The agricultural machinery registration system proposed by RDA makes it possible to verify the ownership of agricultural machinery when the farmer exercises their property rights and when the farmer suffers an economic loss. Also, it can promote efficient implementation of a policy by building precise data about agricultural machinery and reduce the cost of providing the 'tax-free oil' to farmers. However, it is projected that the burden of paying the acquisition and registration tax will be very high. Introducing a driver license system for the use of farm vehicles is expected to reduce accidents, but it is feared that farming will run into problems and the resulting loss will be enormous when it becomes impossible to obtain the license. Moreover, the possibility that a farmer will be degraded into a law breaker becomes high if an accident occurs while they drive a farm vehicle without a driver's license. Compulsory insurance of farm vehicles has the benefit of protecting a farmer from the economic breakdown resulting from an unforeseen accident. However, the burden on the farmer is costly and there is also the problem that the government has to secure the support fund every year. Since the adoption of a farm machinery management system has many problems in addition to benefits, it is necessary to meet the following conditions to achieve the goal of building an advanced farm machinery management system: first, provision of enough time to inform farmers of the system improvement; second, efforts by interested parties to reach an agreement so that they can share an understanding; third, a close review of related laws and regulations (both domestic and foreign); and fourth, guarantee of continued government support and budget. Therefore, it is desirable to put off the idea of immediately introducing an agricultural machinery management system. Moreover, rational judgment by the authorities is needed to implement the system gradually in a more realistic way after the above conditions are met.

Researchers: Ki-Hwan Park, Eun-Mi Jeong, and Hoe-Min, Kwon Research period: 2011. 4. -2011. 7. E-mail address: kihwan@krei.re.kr