Passage of the Agricultural and Fisheries Council Act marks a long-sought milestone, coming 16 years after a government pilot program launched in 2010.
The law formally establishes agricultural and fisheries councils as representative bodies empowered to advise on policy, submit recommendations and collect and share information on behalf of farmers and fishing communities.
Naju city said it welcomes the National Assembly's passage of the Agricultural and Fisheries Council Act, a law that institutionalizes policy participation and rights protection for farmers and fishing communities. The city said it plans to strengthen a cooperative governance framework — drawing on its experience operating the Naju Agricultural and Fisheries Council — so that voices from the field are more fully reflected in local agricultural policy.
The bill, sponsored by Assembly member Im Mi-ae, passed the National Assembly's plenary session on Wednesday and lays the groundwork for institutionalizing farmers' and fishers' participation in policy and realizing field-centered agricultural administration, the city said.
The legislation provides a legal basis for establishing and operating agricultural and fisheries councils, with the aim of promoting participation in agricultural, forestry and fisheries policy, advancing the rights of farmers and fishing communities, and supporting the sustainable development of agriculture, fisheries and rural and coastal areas.
Under the law, agricultural and fisheries councils will be able to carry out a range of representative functions on a formal legal footing — advising on and submitting recommendations about agricultural and fisheries policy, promoting the rights of farmers and fishers, conducting education and outreach, and collecting and providing information related to agriculture, forestry, fisheries and rural communities.
The enactment comes 16 years after the government launched a pilot program in 2010, and 13 years after related legislation was first introduced in the 19th National Assembly in 2013.
A version of the Agricultural and Fisheries Council Act passed the National Assembly's plenary session in May 2024, but was scrapped after the president exercised the right to request reconsideration. Debate over the need to institutionally guarantee farmers' and fishers' policy participation resumed afterward, ultimately leading to the current legislation.
Agricultural and fisheries councils have until now operated without a dedicated legal basis, yet have played a role in gathering diverse opinions from farming and fishing communities and connecting them with local government.
The lack of an adequate institutional foundation had limited their stable operation and scope for expansion, however, and the new law is expected to significantly strengthen the representativeness and public character of the councils.
The passage is particularly meaningful for Naju, which has already established and operated its own agricultural and fisheries council through the voluntary participation and engagement of local farmers and fishers.
The city said it plans to work actively to ensure the Naju Agricultural and Fisheries Council becomes a firmly established channel for communication and cooperative governance in local agricultural policy — one that broadly gathers the diverse voices of farmers and fishers and translates them into policy.
With conditions surrounding agriculture and rural communities changing rapidly — including climate change, an aging rural population, labor shortages and unstable agricultural prices — direct participation and communication by farmers and fishers is more important than ever for accurately identifying problems on the ground and incorporating them into policy.
Naju said it has continuously expanded communication and participation channels to reflect local farmers' and fishers' opinions in agricultural policy, and will further strengthen cooperation with the Naju Agricultural and Fisheries Council so that farmers and fishers participate not merely as beneficiaries of policy but as active agents in shaping local agricultural governance.
"The National Assembly's passage of the Agricultural and Fisheries Council Act is deeply significant in that it has laid an institutional foundation for farmers and fishers to participate directly as the driving force of agricultural policy," a Naju city official said. "We will work actively, drawing on Naju's experience and capacity in operating an agricultural and fisheries council, to ensure the Naju Agricultural and Fisheries Council becomes a solid cooperative governance channel connecting farmers, fishers and the administration — and to develop Naju into a leading region for field-centered cooperative agricultural governance."
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