In 2001, OECD first defined multifunctionality that agriculture has many functions in addition to producing food. e.g. environmental protection, landscape preservation, rural employment. In response to the global trends that undermine multifunctionali...
In 2001, OECD first defined multifunctionality that agriculture has many functions in addition to producing food. e.g. environmental protection, landscape preservation, rural employment. In response to the global trends that undermine multifunctionality and traditional agricultural systems, in 2002, UN FAO launched Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems(GIAHS). In case of KOREA, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs(MAFRA) adopted Korea’s Important Agricultural Heritage Systems(KIAHS) to conserve and utilize multifunctionality since 2012. MAFRA provides 1.5 billion won over 3years for systematic conservation and management of KIAHS, but there is a limit to the sustainable conservation and management of KIAHS even after the project. Therefore It is necessary that induce local residents to participate in sustainable conservation and management of KIAHS.
The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that effect on the willingness of local residents to participate in conservation and management of KIAHS especially no.10 Uiseong traditional irrigation agricultural systems using binary logistic regression. In this study, 353 samples of local residents in KIAHS were surveyed and used for analyzing.
The major findings of this study are summarized as follows.
First, the results showed that 80.2 percent of local residents have willingness to participate in conservation and management of KIAHS. On average, they responded that they could participate in 6 activities for conservation and management of KIAHS about 10 hours a year, and their minimum amount of the willingness to accept was KRW 11,724 to 13,625. The major reason why it is difficult for local residents who don't intend to participate in conservation and management of KIAHS to join was the lack of labor due to the aging population and the second was that they don’t have any interests.
Second, the analysis on determinants of the willingness of local residents to participate in conservation and management of KIAHS revealed that the level of knowledge about KIAHS, farming status using traditional irrigation facilities, experience in activities related to the preservation of agricultural ecological environment, gender, cultivation scale of rice paddy, academic background, and farming career have significant impact on that. Among the seven determinants, except for agricultural experience, revealed that 6 determinants positively affect the willingness of local residents to participate.
This study provides several policy implications for encouraging participation of local residents in conservation and management of KIAHS. As a result of this study, the higher the level of knowledge of national important agricultural heritage, the higher the willingness to participate in conservation and management activities, so systematic education for local residents is needed first. Budget support is needed for local residents who intend to participate in national important agricultural heritage conservation and management activities. Also, For sustainable conservation and management of KIAHS, additional subsidies should be needed for local residents willing to participate. MAFRA should review additional budget support for sustainable conservation and management of KIAHS, just like GIAHS after the 3years of the project. Local governments should make efforts to help local residents who have intend to participate in conservation and management of KIAHS to apply for agricultural environment conservation programs.