‘Urban Agriculture A to Z’... Jongno-gu Urban Agriculture Support Center Opens

'Jongno-gu Urban Agriculture Support Center' Opens in Muak-dong on September 2... Includes Lecture Rooms, Experience Zones, and Information Support Rooms ▲ Hands-on Programs ▲ Distribution of Garden Containers and Seeds

Experience Center

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Jongno-gu (District Mayor Kim Young-jong) will open the 'Jongno-gu Urban Agriculture Support Center' (Tongillo 18nagil 19-1) in Muak-dong on September 2nd, so that residents can enjoy emotional stability through urban agriculture and experience the joy of abundant harvests.

As the number of urban farmers in the area continues to increase, the Urban Agriculture Support Center is being established to provide systematic and useful information and substantial basic education for novice urban farmers.

The center consists of a ‘lecture room’ for classes, an ‘experience area’ for urban agriculture practice, and an ‘information support room’ where urban agriculture promotional videos are screened and related booklets are available. It conducts ▲urban agriculture promotion ▲related experience and practice programs ▲agricultural technology education ▲distribution of garden containers, seeds, and agricultural materials. Additionally, an urban agriculture manager who has completed expert courses will be stationed to provide related consultations and tours.

The ‘Basic Urban Agriculture Education’ starting in September is organized into two classes for the convenience of trainees: a weekday class held every Wednesday and a weekend class held every Saturday.

In a total of 10 sessions, participants can gradually learn from basic knowledge about soil and fertilizer to how to select crops and methods for pest and disease control. Class hours are from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on both weekdays and weekends. To prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection, classes will be replaced with online lessons, and practical sessions will be conducted in the experience area while strictly adhering to prevention guidelines.

In addition, ‘urban beekeeping experience education’ and ‘insect experience learning’ conducted by local urban agriculture communities are also planned.

For more detailed information about the education, please refer to the Jongno-gu Urban Agriculture Support Center website and the Seoul Farmer Portal.

Meanwhile, Jongno-gu created a total of 129 urban gardens (16,745㎡) in the area by last year and added 14 more sites (1,200㎡) in 2020, creating an environment where more residents can experience urban agriculture. It is expected to relieve fatigue caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and bring vitality to weary daily life.

The newly created gardens this year include ▲four ‘spare gardens’ utilizing abandoned idle spaces (Jungang Villa in Sinyeong-dong, Shinhan Villa in Pyeongchang-dong, Muak-dong garden, Mugyewon) ▲two ‘rooftop gardens’ using building rooftops (Hyehwa Police Station, Jongno Cultural Foundation) ▲four ‘fresh gardens’ installed in social welfare facilities (Cheongun Nursing Home, Muak Daycare Center, Donghwa Children’s Daycare Center, Haesong Regional Children’s Center) ▲four ‘school gardens’ (Unhyeon Elementary School, Doknipmun Elementary School, Gyeongbok High School, Sejong Kindergarten).

Jongno-gu’s urban garden creation dates back over 10 years. Despite the lack of cultivation space in the city center, since 2011, it has steadily discovered spare land, cleaned up spaces occupied by household waste, and transformed them into urban gardens.

They have also utilized neglected rooftop spaces of public buildings as gardens, and even without land, distributed box gardens to residents and groups wishing to cultivate urban agriculture easily in their living spaces such as balconies. They have continuously worked to provide urban agriculture information and promote it by operating horticultural programs for social welfare facilities and holding related education.

District Mayor Kim Young-jong stated, “Through the opening of this Urban Agriculture Support Center, we expect to provide more residents with opportunities to experience urban agriculture. We will plan various related programs with resident communities and strive to revitalize urban agriculture based on systematic education and support.”

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