Support Projects for Young Farmers Including Smart Technology Adoption... Farm Income Increased by 28% Over 4 Years

Customized support for 40 management entities annually including facilities, equipment, and consulting
Expanding to 80 entities next year... "Contributing to business success and early agricultural settlement"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok]

#Park Mincheol, CEO of Sanmaeul Agricultural Cooperative Corporation, which processes bellflower roots in Muju-gun, Jeollabuk-do, expanded processing facilities of 198㎡ compliant with the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) standards and added four types of equipment. He purchased 30 tons of bellflower roots annually to produce and sell various products such as bellflower root syrup, sliced bellflower root, and candied bellflower root. Sales doubled from 1.2 billion KRW in 2019 to 2.3 billion KRW last year. He also contributed to job creation by involving 15 village residents in washing, peeling, and sorting the bellflower roots.

#Joo Sangjung, CEO of Healthy Farm in Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do, who cultivates eggplants, introduced a smart farm. He developed an automated system that provides nutrients automatically. Since eggplant farming is often done by continuous cropping, nutrients are not properly supplied, causing crops to wither and die, but this problem was solved. As a result, productivity increased by 16.6%, sales rose by 20.8%, and the commercialization rate improved by 1.9%.

The governor of Gaji farming was able to acquire a smart farm controller thanks to the support project of the Rural Development Administration. (Photo by Rural Development Administration)

Both farmers benefited from the Rural Development Administration's 'Youth Farmer Competitiveness Enhancement Project.' According to the Rural Development Administration on the 13th, the average income of 160 business entities participating in the project from 2017 to 2020 increased by about 28%, from 57.98 million KRW before the project to 74.4 million KRW. The annual average income growth rates before and after the project were 21.7% in 2017, 31% in 2018, 29.5% in 2019, and 30% last year. This project, implemented since 2016, selects 40 business entities annually and provides customized support such as facilities, equipment, and consulting. It mainly supports the business success and early settlement of young farmers in agriculture.

The Rural Development Administration plans to double the number of supported businesses from 40 to 80 next year. No Hyungil, head of the COVID-19 Response Agricultural Technology Support Team at the Rural Development Administration, said, "In response to rural aging, we plan to expand customized support through the Youth Farmer Competitiveness Enhancement Project so that more young farmers can settle early in rural areas."

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