Muan-gun Successfully Completes Pilot Cultivation of Fully Mechanized Garlic Farming

If Mechanization Is Established, Dramatic Reduction in Labor and Production Costs Expected

[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Jae-kyung] Muan County, Jeollanam-do recently held a demonstration of garlic stem cutting and harvesting operations, drawing attention from farmers facing difficulties due to labor shortages and rising labor costs in rural areas.

Since September last year, the county has been accelerating garlic mechanization through a pilot project to reduce production costs with integrated mechanization. In the first year, the project focused on garlic clove separation, sorting, and mechanical sowing, and in the second year, it has supported agricultural machinery for stem cutting, harvesting, and drying.

On the 13th, more than 50 officials attended a demonstration at the pilot farm in Hyeonhwa-ri, Hyeongyeong-myeon, where the purpose and progress of the pilot project and key agricultural machinery were explained, followed by a demonstration using a tractor-mounted garlic stem cutter and an underground crop harvester.

Kim Minam, a pilot farmer who participated in the demonstration, has been conducting various cultivation experiments since August last year to mechanize garlic cultivation, including ground covering (biodegradable film, PE film, etc.), sowing timing, and sowing depth changes. His skilled work at each stage greatly contributed to promoting and expanding the garlic mechanization project.

When harvested manually, the work area is only 300㎡ per day, but with mechanical harvesting, more than 10,000㎡ can be harvested. It is expected that once onion mechanization is established, labor and production costs will be drastically reduced.

County Governor Kim San stated, “We will continue to build a mechanization manual for the entire garlic cultivation process and gradually expand garlic cultivation mechanization.”

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