Jeonju City and Wanju County Give Thumbs Up to Local Food Index!

Wanju-gun Wins Grand Prize for Two Consecutive Years Nationwide... Jeonju City Receives Excellence Award and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Award

[Jeonju·Wanju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Han-ho] Jeonju City and Wanju County have once again proven their status as leading local governments in promoting local food.

According to the two local governments, in the '2021 Local Food Index Results Announcement and Excellent Local Government Awards Ceremony' conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Wanju County was the only one among 159 local governments nationwide to receive an S grade for two consecutive years, winning the grand prize.

Additionally, Wanju County received awards in two of the five newly established special categories this year: consideration for vulnerable farmers and consumer communication.

For more than 10 years, Wanju County has been the first in the nation to open a local food direct store, setting records for the most local food direct stores and highest sales, with related sales approaching 500 billion won.

In particular, as a comprehensive strategy for local food circulation within the region, Wanju has established the Wanju Food Plan comprehensive plan and steadily promotes projects covering all aspects of food, including production, education, and consumption, such as supplying local food to welfare facilities and companies, supporting school and daycare center meals, managing agricultural product-using businesses, strengthening local food safety, supporting food-vulnerable groups, and operating educational programs.

Jeonju City also simultaneously received the grand prize and the special award (Development Award) from the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

In 2015, Jeonju established the Jeonju Food Plan, which builds a circulation system where safe and healthy Jeonju food is 'produced-processed-distributed-consumed-recycled' locally, and founded the public execution organization, the Jeonju Food Integrated Support Center Foundation. Last year, Jeonju also focused on establishing an organizational foundation by creating the Food Policy Division, a dedicated department for Jeonju Food, within the Agricultural Technology Center.

Meanwhile, the Local Food Index evaluation, hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, selects excellent local governments through a first round of document screening and a second round of on-site evaluation based on 17 indicators for 159 cities and counties nationwide, including △proportion of local processed product sales △efforts in practicing eco-friendly agriculture △local food supply for school and public meals △local food direct stores △food citizen education △food governance, among others.

Jeonju·Wanju=Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Han-ho stonepeak@asiae.co.kr

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