Rep. Lee Gae-ho Urges Rural Development Administration to Intensify Efforts in 'Woori Wheat Research and Development'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Rep. Lee Gae-ho (The Democratic Party of Korea, Damyang-Hampyeong-Yeonggwang-Jangseong) pointed out the issue of wheat self-sufficiency rate and urged the Rural Development Administration to actively conduct research and development on domestic wheat varieties and processed foods to increase the self-sufficiency rate.

At the Rural Development Administration's audit held the day before, Rep. Lee said the self-sufficiency rate remains at a low level.

Although wheat is the second staple food after rice with an annual per capita consumption of 31.6 kg, the self-sufficiency rate was only 0.7% as of 2019 (provisional), meaning most of it depends on imports.

In fact, the wheat self-sufficiency rate has been declining continuously from 1.7% in 2017, 1.2% in 2018, to 0.7% in 2019, making it highly likely that the government's target slogan to achieve 9.9% by 2022 will remain empty rhetoric.

The "Wheat Industry Promotion Act," which Rep. Lee sponsored, passed the National Assembly in September last year, establishing a legal foundation to systematically and stably foster and support the wheat industry, which is facing difficulties such as improving the quality of domestic wheat and expanding demand.

However, the domestic wheat industry remains weak overall in production, distribution, processing, and consumption, raising the need for comprehensive government-level support and measures to revitalize the domestic wheat industry.

Rep. Lee said, "For the practical development of the domestic wheat industry and the increase of the wheat self-sufficiency rate, efforts must continue to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic wheat through the development of excellent domestic varieties and to promote domestic wheat consumption by researching various wheat-related processed products," adding, "Since the mission and vision of the Rural Development Administration lie in the stable supply of national food through agricultural technology innovation and the enhancement of the competitiveness of our agricultural and food industry, more efforts should be made to improve the wheat self-sufficiency rate through various quality improvements and research and development on domestic wheat."

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