Korean Journal of Soil Science and FertilizerISSN:0367-6315(Print) 2288-2162(Online)한국토양비료학회

The Agricultural Environment Conservation Program (AECP) of the Korean government aims to protect the agricultural environment and ecosystem through reduction of the uses of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The AECP, which is consisted of individual (16 activities) and community (14 activities) activities, has been implemented in 2019, and thus it is necessary to evaluate the overall performance of the 30 activities to reform and advance the AECP. In this study, we studied farmers’ participation and effectiveness, difficulty, and preference of the activities by farmers through farm-level survey. Results showed that participation and preference for community activities to improve village living conditions and landscape were higher than individual activities such as nutrient management, soil erosion control, and pesticide reduction, which are directly associated with the conservation of agricultural environment and ecosystem. Therefore, we suggest that government’s support is needed to enhance individual activities on farmland rather than community activities. In addition, amongst the individual activities, the participation in and preference for the activities related to soil loss and nutrient runoff management and pesticide use reduction were lower than those for nutrient management activities probably due to difficulty in the practice of these activities. Therefore, more intensive education programs and additional funding to support the implementation of the activities for soil conservation and pesticide reduction are strongly necessary.

To achieve goals of the AECP, more intensive education programs and additional funding to support the implementation of activities for soil conservation and pesticide reduction are strongly necessary.