(Jeonju = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Jin-bang = At โโa time when the accident rate among farmers is more than 8 times that of the entire industry, it is pointed out that the Rural Development Administration has left rural sites in a safety blind spot by ending the 'IoT agricultural machinery traffic safety and accident detection alarm technology pilot project' after three years.
According to data received from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Rural Development Administration by Rep. Shin Jang-sik of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, a member of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee on the 14th, it was revealed that the accident rate and death rate (rate of deaths per 10,000 people enrolled in industrial accident insurance) in agricultural fields are far above the average for the entire industry, putting them in a serious safety blind spot.
Looking at the status of deaths and injuries from agricultural work accidents by accident cause, the number of deaths occurring during agricultural work is 297 in 2024 and 293 in 2025, reaching around 300 each year. In 2026, 176 people were counted as having lost their lives as of August.
By cause of accidents over the past five years, deaths due to 'agricultural machinery and transportation' accounted for the highest proportion, with approximately 170 cases each year.
In addition, the number of farmers who suffered injuries or diseases due to agricultural work reached 53,970 in 2025, and as of August of this year, the number exceeded 37,053, or about 50,000 people each year.
By type, fall accidents were the most common with an annual average of about 20,000, and agricultural machinery and transportation-related accidents were the second most common with an annual average of 15,000 to 17,000. More than 13,000 casualties from diseases such as infectious diseases and heatstroke continue to occur every year.
In particular, among the 293 total deaths in 2025, 171 people died in agricultural machinery-related accidents, accounting for 58.4%, and as of August 2026, 104 out of 176 total deaths (59.1%) also lost their lives in agricultural machinery accidents, making it the number one cause of death for farmers every year.
Rep. Shin pointed out that although agricultural machinery accidents are considered the biggest cause of farmer deaths, the Rural Development Administration's related projects to prevent them have been discontinued three years after they began.
The Rural Development Administration invested a total of 420 million won from 2021 to 2023 to implement the 'IoT agricultural machinery traffic safety and accident detection alarm technology pilot project'.
This project is to distribute 'accident detection terminals' that automatically report to 119 when agricultural machinery is tilted more than 45 degrees and send an emergency alarm to family members.
However, the project was discontinued after the end of the three-year pilot project on the grounds that it was a sunset project. When national distribution was halted, the project became dependent on cooperation between local governments and the private sector, and as a result, distribution performance declined.
Rep. Shin emphasized, "Even if we quickly expand and distribute safety equipment to rural areas across the country to prevent repeated agricultural machinery accidents, the project was discontinued after three years because it was not enough. As protecting the lives of farmers is a basic responsibility of the state, we must restore the safety equipment supply project and significantly expand the budget."
