Lee Seong-hee, President of NongHyup Central Association, On-Site Management for Spring Farming Season "Will Resolve Labor Shortage"

Lee Sung-hee, President of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (right), is presenting an agricultural product set and flowers to an elderly person at the "Baekse Hyo Festival" held by Seokgok Nonghyup in Gokseong, Jeonnam, on the 6th.

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyun-jung] As social distancing measures to overcome the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) have ended, Lee Seong-hee, Chairman of the NongHyup Central Association, visited agricultural sites during the spring farming season.

On the first day of the transition to everyday distancing, the 6th, Chairman Lee visited Gokseong, Jeollanam-do and Gimje, Jeollabuk-do to deliver agricultural products and attend events such as rice planting and transplanting demonstrations. At Seokgok NongHyup in Gokseong, Jeollanam-do, a "Centenarian Filial Piety Feast" was held to celebrate Family Month, distributing 8kg of Gokseong Baeksemi rice and 800g of taro (88 Health Gift Set) to centenarians nationwide.

Following this, Chairman Lee attended the "Sparse Rice Transplanting Demonstration" held by Baeksan NongHyup and the Rural Development Administration in Gimje, Jeollabuk-do to promote a new farming method. Sparse rice transplanting is gaining attention as a simple farming technique that addresses rural aging and labor shortages while reducing production costs. Compared to traditional methods, it reduces the number of seedling boxes per unit area by about one-third, cutting seedling and transplanting costs by half, while expected production remains largely unchanged.

Since last year, NongHyup has been cooperating with the Rural Development Administration to establish pilot sites for sparse rice transplanting in Jeollabuk-do, researching farm usability, and leading the establishment of a technology dissemination system. At the event, Chairman Lee stated, "We will continue to do our best to reduce production costs and resolve labor shortages through the development and dissemination of new farming methods, agricultural machinery banks, and farm work outsourcing."

Lee Sung-hee, President of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (left), is attending the 'Rare Rice Transplanting Demonstration' held on the 6th in Gimje, Jeonbuk, and inspecting the site.

On the same day, NongHyup executives and employees also visited rural areas to assist with farm work and gather field opinions. About 30 staff members from the Audit Committee Office, including Kim Yong-sik, Chairman of the NongHyup Central Association Audit Committee, visited Gajeong Village in Baegun-myeon, Jecheon-si, Chungbuk, with which they have an honorary village head agreement, to help with apple flower thinning and pepper seedling planting.

Additionally, 26 executives and employees, including Park Hak-joo, Head of the Asset Management Headquarters of NongHyup Mutual Finance, visited a grape farm in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do, to assist with grapevine side shoot pruning and organizing agricultural materials.

Separately, NongHyup plans to establish a volunteer recruitment channel to alleviate rural labor shortages. In cooperation with social contribution organizations such as the Korea National Council on Social Welfare and the Korea Central Volunteer Center, volunteers will be recruited, and companies are actively encouraged to participate in rural volunteer activities as part of their social responsibility efforts.

To facilitate easy participation by the general public, a banner linking to the 1365 Volunteer Portal's rural volunteer activity page will be posted on the NongHyup website. Participants will receive volunteer activity certificates, and to avoid burdening farms, lunch, bottled water, and work tools will be provided through sponsorship from the National Movement Headquarters for Love of Rural Areas and the Credit Card Social Contribution Foundation.

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