Farmers to Receive Interest Rate Break

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation said Tuesday they will cut farm loan interest rates and simplify farm help programs.

Interest charged by local agricultural cooperatives on mutual finance products will be lowered to 9.5 percent from the current 10.7 percent. The cooperatives currently charging rates over 12 percent will be encouraged to lower the rates in line with the federation's interest policy, the ministry said.

In response to the expected decline in revenue, the Agriculture Ministry said it will reorganize the federation's local cooperatives by closing up to 500 local cooperatives and cutting payrolsl by 5,500 before the end of next year.

The ministry also said it will simplify the farm subsidy and low-interest assistance programs from the current 7 categories and interests ranging from 0 to 8 percent to 5 categories and rates up to 6 percent.