Farmers seek special disaster zone declaration
Mandarin crop has been devastated by poor weather conditions

Jeju mandarin growers... and academics in the farming industry... have started signing a petition to declare mandarin groves a special disaster zone.

Recent poor weather conditions have caused a lot of the fruit to go bad and profits have plunged.

The Department of Industrial and Applied Economics at Jeju National University, the Seogwipo branch of the Korean Advanced Farmers Association, and the Jeju branch of the Korean Agricultural Informatization Association held a press conference on Monday at Seogwipo City Hall, urging for the declaration.

They said they would gather 10,000 signatures by the end of the month and deliver their petition to the ruling Saenuri Party’s central committee and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs… in order to receive financial support to cover the damages incurred this year.

"특별재해지역 지정해야…서명운동 돌입"

최근 잦은 비날씨로 피해를 입고 있는 감귤농가를 특별재해지역으로 선포해달라는 서명운동이 시작됐습니다.

제주대 산업응용경제학과를 비롯해 한국 농업경영인 서귀포시연합회, 한국 정보화농업인 제주도연합회 등으로 구성된 서명운동 추진위원회는 오늘(21일) 서귀포시청에서 기자회견을 갖고 제주 감귤농가 피해지역이특별재해지역으로 지정돼야 한다고 주장했습니다.

추진위원회는 연말까지 1만명 서명을 받고 새누리당 중앙당과 농림축산식품부에 전달해 감귤 피해 복구에 필요한 지원과 영농자금 감면 등을 받아내겠다고 강조했습니다.