Park Young-beom, Vice Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Visits Fig Cold Damage Site in Yeongam County

National Budget of 29.1 Billion Won for Four Sectors Including Vinyl House Installation Projects

(The second from the right) Jeon Dong-pyeong, Governor of Yeongam County, is explaining the fig damage situation to Park Young-beom, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (Photo by Yeongam County)

[Yeongam＝Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Hyun] On the 9th, Jeonnam Yeongam-gun announced that Park Young-beom, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, visited the fig damage site in Samho-eup on the 6th to the 8th to listen to the difficulties.

At the event, Jeon Dong-pyeong, Yeongam County Governor, So Young-ho, Director of Jeonnam Agriculture, Livestock and Food, the county council chairman, county council members, provincial council members, officials from the Nonghyup Yeongam branch, and residents interested in figs attended.

From January 5th to 10th, continuous temperatures below -10℃ for four days caused severe damage to figs, a specialty crop of Yeongam-gun, due to frost damage. The damaged area was 406.2 hectares, accounting for 85% of the 473 hectares of fig cultivation area in Yeongam, according to the investigation.

Jeon Dong-pyeong, Yeongam County Governor, explained the severe damage status of figs, Yeongam-gun’s representative specialty crop, and emphasized that since most farmers cultivate figs in open fields, they are continuously exposed to winter cold damage, making support projects to prevent this urgently needed.

He stated that practical measures to respond to recurring abnormal weather include support projects for tunnel-type nonwoven fabric and vinyl house installation, requesting national funding of 27.48 billion KRW for these projects and 1.65 billion KRW for fig orchard maintenance and other support projects. Additionally, he proposed institutional improvements such as the actualization of disaster damage support conditions related to figs.

Furthermore, Governor Jeon Dong-pyeong said, “We will do our best to provide administrative support not only through central government assistance but also to respond semi-permanently to abnormal weather,” and urged, “Please also put effort into managing farmers’ plots.”

An official from the county stated, “Based on the detailed investigation results of cold damage in January and April, we will promptly establish a restoration plan, and once national funding is confirmed, we plan to urgently inject contingency funds and quickly provide disaster relief funds to affected farmers,” adding, “We will continuously develop permanent measures against fig frost damage and prioritize implementing the tunnel-type nonwoven fabric support project.”

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