S. Korea’s Agricultural Education Programme Helps Immigrant Women Married to Koreans Settle in Rural Communities

Sejong, 13 September 2024 — The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) has been running the agricultural education programme for immigrant women married to Korean citizens from June, with it being set to close at the end of November, with the purpose of helping them settle into a life in rural communities and addressing the difficulties faced by them. The education programme is provided at 107 cooperatives of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF or NongHyup).  

• 39,658 or 22.9% in 2020 → 39,725 or 22.8% in 2021 → 38,513 or 21.9% in 2022

One in five multicultural households in South Korea lives in rural areas. Multicultural households also play an important role as members of rural communities, but many of them experience difficulties due to linguistic and cultural barriers. To help them out of such difficulties, the MAFRA has been providing the education programme this year for 930 immigrant women married to Korean citizens from 15 countries, including Vietnam.

The programme is comprised of courses designed to help those immigrant women build stable lives in rural communities and become “succeeding farmers.” The educational courses include farming business, how to use agricultural equipment and machinery, hands-on training, gender equality, and the history and culture of agricultural rural areas, etc. Importantly, for this year, the MAFRA provides a new set of courses geared to help children of immigrant women married to Korean citizens develop a feeling of connection to rural communities and enhance a family relationship. 

* A succeeding farmer means a person who runs, or intends to run, a farming business to succeed to and develop agriculture, as well as meets the requirements prescribed by the Presidential Decree.

Director General KIM Jong-gu of the MAFRA’s Agricultural Policy Bureau, said: “The agricultural education programme aims to help immigrant women married to Korean citizens live in harmony with local residents in rural communities. Through the education programme, we will spare no effort to make Korean rural societies more inclusive.”