Jeonnam Province Expands Nationwide Delivery of Agricultural Produce Packages for School Meals

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeonnam Province announced on the 28th that the school meal ‘Eco-friendly Agricultural Products Package’ delivery project, jointly promoted with the Jeonnam Office of Education as the first of its kind nationwide, has become a pilot model for overcoming ‘COVID-19’ and is spreading to metropolitan cities such as Seoul and Gyeonggi following Jeonbuk and Gyeongnam.

The Jeonnam Province ‘COVID-19’ Overcoming Win-Win Project’s school meal eco-friendly agricultural products package delivery support project was mentioned twice as a pilot case at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meetings, and the headquarters chief, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, also expressed opinions on its expansion to metropolitan local governments nationwide.

Due to the four delays in opening elementary, middle, and high schools and the shift to online classes, which caused a long-term suspension of school meals, Jeonnam Province is promoting the agricultural products package delivery project to provide safe food to students and to support income preservation for farmers whose sales channels have been blocked through consumption promotion.

The target group includes 235,000 students from daycare centers, kindergartens, and elementary, middle, high (special) schools within Jeonnam Province. Each student is receiving an eco-friendly agricultural products package worth 40,000 KRW (24,000 KRW for daycare centers and kindergartens), consisting of eco-friendly ingredients such as grains, vegetables, and fruits, delivered directly to their homes.

As of this day, delivery has been made to 200,000 students, accounting for 85% of the target, and is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

The project budget is being used by converting 10.4 billion KRW from the school meal eco-friendly ingredient support budget for March-April this year, and it is evaluated as a model case of proactive administration promoted in prior consultation with the Jeonnam Office of Education.

In particular, this project was planned based on the idea of Kim Young-rok, Governor of Jeollanam-do, who has experience serving as a member of the National Assembly’s Agriculture, Forestry, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Committee and as Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and was implemented from mid-month according to the central government’s opinion.

The results of the eco-friendly agricultural products package delivery support project are being evaluated as successful. This is because students and parents struggling through the difficult times of ‘COVID-19,’ production farmers, school meal suppliers, and delivery companies all benefited, achieving a fivefold effect.

Governor Kim Young-rok of Jeollanam-do said, “I am very pleased that the package home delivery project, first implemented nationwide in Jeonnam Province, has sparked the flame of hope to spread to other metropolitan local governments,” and added, “I hope that safe-to-eat Jeonnam eco-friendly agricultural, fishery, and livestock products will be actively promoted and delivered throughout the Republic of Korea.”

Meanwhile, Jeonnam Province plans to consider additional support next month if offline school openings do not take place.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.