Rural Development Administration Promotes Volunteer Work to Assist Farmers During Goheung Yuja Harvest Season

Helping Hands for Harvest at Goheung Yuja Farms... Promoting Agricultural Product Purchases

[Goheung=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Shim Jeong-woo] Jeonnam Goheung-gun (Governor Song Gwi-geun) boasts the highest yuzu production in the country, and amid the busy yuzu harvest season, the Rural Development Administration (Administrator Heo Tae-woong) visited yuzu farms in Duwon-myeon on the 23rd to help with labor, the agency announced on the 24th.

This labor assistance was carried out as part of a rural labor support campaign involving rural development institutions nationwide (provincial agricultural technology centers, city and county agricultural technology centers) to support farms struggling to secure labor during the harvest season due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The harvest work was conducted at yuzu farms that suffered cold damage during last winter’s cold wave, with the participation of 30 Rural Development Administration employees and 10 staff members from the Goheung-gun Agricultural Technology Center.

Thanks to the mild weather, Goheung has favorable conditions for yuzu production, but recently, due to the impact of climate change, stable yuzu production has become difficult. The farm receiving labor support also suffered damage to 156 yuzu trees on 0.5 hectares of yuzu orchard, which is expected to disrupt yuzu processing such as yuzu syrup and yuzu juice production.

Ryu Jin-ho, a young farmer receiving labor support, said, “I was very distressed by the cold damage to the yuzu trees, but the labor assistance provided comfort, and the support during the busy yuzu harvest season was a great help.”

Since May, the Rural Development Administration has been conducting the ‘Love for Rural Areas Labor Sharing’ campaign jointly with local rural development institutions, with over 10,000 people participating in labor support for about 500 farms nationwide, contributing to alleviating labor shortages during the busy farming season.

Woo Kang-ha, head of the COVID-19 Response Agricultural Technology Support Team at the Rural Development Administration, said, “We will expand support so that the rural labor assistance campaign, promoted as part of proactive administration, can be of practical help in rural areas, and we will also support farmers’ sales activities by conducting ‘selling agricultural products’ activities among rural development institution employees.”

Goheung=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Shim Jeong-woo sevenshim@asiae.co.kr

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