Eco-friendly Agricultural Products from Jeonnam Region to Be Served in Gyeonggi-do School Meals

[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Eco-friendly agricultural products from Jeonnam region will be supplied to school meals in Gyeonggi Province.

Jeonnam Province announced on the 3rd that the Honam Eco-friendly Agricultural Products Logistics Center was selected in the ‘2022 Gyeonggi Province Eco-friendly Agricultural Products School Meal External Supplier Selection’ contest hosted by the Gyeonggi Province Agricultural and Marine Products Promotion Agency.

The ‘Gyeonggi Province Eco-friendly Agricultural Products School Meal External Supplier’ contest is a project to supply eco-friendly agricultural products to about 810,000 children and students in 1,368 kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools in the Gyeonggi area.

The selection was finalized through document screening, on-site, and presentation evaluations by officials from the Gyeonggi Province Agricultural and Marine Products Promotion Agency and school meal experts in the metropolitan area.

The Honam Eco-friendly Agricultural Products Logistics Center plans to supply 225 tons of 21 items including vegetables such as onions, green onions, potatoes, melons, watermelons, bell peppers, lettuce, mushrooms, and fruit trees produced in Jeonnam for one year from March 1, 2023, to February 28, 2024. The annual supply amount is about 1.5 billion KRW.

As of the end of last year, the eco-friendly certified area in Jeonnam is 40,344 hectares, accounting for 54% of the nationwide 75,117 hectares, ranking first in the country.

The province plans to diversify certified items focusing on fruit trees and vegetables and strengthen the foundation centered on organic farming while enhancing safety management to secure consumer trust.

In particular, they will accelerate efforts to establish a supply system where the Honam Eco-friendly Agricultural Products Logistics Center and producing farms contractually cultivate crops, expand certified farms, and promote farm organization to create a virtuous cycle system from planned production to consumption.

Additionally, the ‘Eco-friendly Agricultural Products Contract Farming Youth Farmer Development Project,’ which was promoted as a pilot project last year, will be expanded into a full-scale project this year with a budget of 1.5 billion KRW.

The plan is to contract with about 150 young farmers to stably produce and supply eco-friendly agricultural products needed for school meals in the province and metropolitan areas such as Gyeonggi.

A Jeonnam Province official said, “Healthy school meals made with fresh eco-friendly agricultural ingredients from Jeonnam will not only promote health for children and students but also help them realize new values of the environment and agriculture,” adding, “We will expand eco-friendly agricultural product consumption as a project of trust and coexistence connecting urban and rural areas and foster eco-friendly agriculture into a high-income agriculture.”

Since its opening in October 2017, the Honam Eco-friendly Agricultural Products Logistics Center has played a central role in logistics for Jeonnam eco-friendly agricultural products by promoting supply to school meals in Jeonnam and other provinces, achieving sales of 13.7 billion KRW last year.

This year, to expand stable demand channels, it will extend its scope beyond Jeonnam to school meals in the metropolitan area including Seoul and Gyeonggi. It also plans to expand online sales through large retailers such as E-Mart, as well as Namdo Market and Nonghyup Mall, and pioneer new markets such as the organic specialty store ‘Chorokmaeul.’

The annual sales target for this year is 20 billion KRW, focusing on becoming the nation’s top eco-friendly agricultural product production and distribution base.

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