농업환경보전프로그램 효과성 제고 방안 분석 - 정수계획 모형 기반 접근 -

Abstract

The Agri-Environmental Conservation Program (AECP) is the most comprehensive agri-environmental payment scheme in Korea, encompassing a wide range of activities. Unlike existing direct payment schemes, the AECP operates through collective participation at the village level to enhance farmers’ engagement and the effectiveness of their practices. Accordingly, the program is expected to play a significant role in shaping the design and implementation of future direct payment schemes, depending on its performance and long-term sustainability. However, an assessment of the environmental performance of villages that initiated the program in 2019 revealed the need for institutional improvements to strengthen its policy effectiveness. The objective of this study is to propose policy measures to enhance the effectiveness of the AECP through a comprehensive evaluation of its current implementation. To this end, policy scenarios for the AECP were developed with reference to previous literature on agri-environmental payment schemes. In addition, an integer programming model was constructed to analyze these scenarios, drawing on research related to conservation planning. The scenario analysis demonstrated that an optimization approach based on environmental benefits and costs substantially improves both the cost and environmental effectiveness of individual activities. Furthermore, relaxing the per-capita subsidy limit for individual activities—rather than simply increasing the total budget—was found to be more effective in enhancing the program's cost efficiency. Finally, tightening the constraints on mandatory activities did not yield further improvements in environmental benefits or cost effectiveness compared with the optimization scenario. These findings underscore the need for institutional reforms that prioritize policy improvements grounded in evidence on environmental benefits and costs.