Revised decree adds extreme heat-related pests to agricultural disasters

The revised decree broadens agricultural-disaster coverage to include disease and pest outbreaks directly caused by extreme heat, while requiring national and local governments to notify farmers and fishers in disaster-hit areas of how to report disaster damage.

The law's revision rationale said climate change has made difficult-to-predict disasters such as extreme heat more frequent and widened agricultural and fisheries damage. It said the changes would support production costs incurred before a disaster at actual transaction-price levels.

The revisions follow changes to the Agricultural and Fisheries Disaster Countermeasures Act, which added earthquakes as well as extreme heat to the causes of agricultural disasters. The law was amended on Aug. 14, 2025, and takes effect Aug. 15, 2026. The presidential decree was promulgated Aug. 4 and takes effect Aug. 15.

National and local governments must tell farming and fishing households in disaster-hit areas how to report disaster damage through written notices, telephone calls, text messages or other methods.

The agriculture and oceans ministers must prepare a basic disaster and safety management plan that includes guarantees for pre-disaster input costs. They must hear views from farming and fishing households and relevant experts when drawing up the plan.