[Asia Exclusive] Minister Jeong Hwang-geun: "In the Era of Food Security, Countries Must Ensure a Self-Sufficiency Rate of 50%"

Interview with Yoon Administration's First Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
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Jeong Hwang-geun, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, is giving an interview to Asia Economy on the 15th at his office in the Government Sejong Complex.

[Interview = Eunjeong Lee, Head of Economic Department at Asia Economy, Summary = Hyewon Kim, Reporter] "Our country's food self-sufficiency rate must be maintained above 50%. Food self-sufficiency, directly linked to the people's livelihood, is a responsibility the nation must bear. If it worsens further, it will be irreversible."

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has served as a wake-up call for the public to recognize the seriousness of food sovereignty. President Yoon Seok-yeol's bold adoption of strengthening food security as a core national agenda aligns with Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Jeong Hwang-geun's emphasis on the state's responsibility for food self-sufficiency. In an interview at his office in the Government Complex Sejong on the 15th, Minister Jeong said, "We are consulting with the Ministry of Economy and Finance and others to expand direct payments for strategic crops directly linked to food security, such as wheat, soybeans, and rice for rice flour." He noted the need to refer to the Japanese model. Japan has a relatively high wheat self-sufficiency rate of 18%, and Minister Jeong believes that the policy of providing full subsidies of 4 million KRW per hectare as paddy field direct payments to wheat farming households was effective.

Minister Jeong attracted attention by presenting ‘floury rice’ as his first policy to strengthen food security just over a month after taking office. He said, "Replacing some imported wheat flour with domestic rice flour is expected to increase food self-sufficiency and resolve the oversupply of rice," adding, "It is expected to save 600 billion KRW in budget by 2027." This estimate was made by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs by calculating the 2.3 trillion KRW cost caused by rice oversupply, investing 1.7 trillion KRW in the industrialization of floury rice, and the remaining difference.

- It seems the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has rarely received such attention. It’s been just over 40 days since your appointment, but it seems like a hectic period with many urgent issues.

▲ It feels like a year. I bear a heavy responsibility in a difficult time for agriculture and rural areas. There has never been a time when food issues emerged simultaneously worldwide due to crises from climate change and grain supply chain instability caused by war.

- You emphasized food sovereignty as your first statement after taking office. It is also a core national agenda of the Yoon administration.

▲ Our country relies heavily on imports for a significant portion of its annual grain consumption (21.32 million tons), resulting in a food self-sufficiency rate of only 45.8%. We have already established a mid- to long-term task force (TF) within the ministry to strengthen food security and have begun concrete action plans. We plan to newly install grain-dedicated storage facilities with a total capacity of 100,000 tons centered around ports, and if private companies such as POSCO International and Harim pursue equity acquisitions of grain elevators overseas, we will secure budgets to support part of the funding. Additionally, we are revising laws (Overseas Agricultural and Forestry Resource Development Cooperation Act) to allow grains secured by private companies overseas to be imported domestically in emergencies.

- You quickly introduced the first policy to revitalize the rice processing industry using floury rice.

▲ We live on a very small land area. As of last year, South Korea's land area is 10.21 million hectares, but the arable land area is only 1.547 million hectares. This means only 15% of the land is cultivable farmland. If this policy succeeds, by around 2027, 10% of the annual wheat flour demand of 2 million tons can be replaced with floury rice flour. In that case, the wheat self-sufficiency target for 2027 is expected to rise to 7.9%, up 0.9 percentage points from the current level. After more detailed analysis, we will announce new food and major grain self-sufficiency targets by the end of this year.

- Consumer price inflation has entered the 5% range. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is gaining more attention in this high-price era.

▲ Rice flour is a policy issue, but the biggest current concern is inflation. The consumer price inflation rate for agricultural and livestock products peaked at 8.7% in December last year, then declined, but has sharply risen again since April this year. Livestock product prices, especially pork, are also rising steeply. We are mobilizing all means, including fiscal and tax measures, to stabilize agricultural and food prices. Depending on future price trends, it may be necessary to expand the application period or scope of tariff quotas. We will continue to support fertilizer and feed purchase funds, which account for a significant portion of farm production costs, and the government is bearing 70% of the wheat flour price increase. We are focusing policy efforts on minimizing food price inflation pressure, but it is not easy. The effects are expected to last until next year.

- Agriculture is generally in a growth stagnation period. There are many concerns about the future of agriculture.

▲ We need to break the formula ‘farming = agriculture.’ Now, we must approach it with the concept of agribusiness. For agriculture to leap into a future industry, smart farms and agricultural food exports are key. Simply put, smart farms enable perfect agricultural production overseas through various sensors controlled by smartphones. We are currently collecting big data and are transitioning from the second to the third phase of smart farm development. Agricultural food exports reached a record high of 5.185 billion USD cumulatively as of the end of May. Last year, exports surpassed 10 billion USD for the first time. Rice processed foods are popular overseas.

- The success of President Yoon’s pledge to nurture 30,000 young farmers also seems linked to agriculture’s future.

▲ Young farmers currently make up only 1.2% of all farmers, about 12,500 households. It is a challenging goal, but if only 30% of the approximately 13,000 graduates from agricultural high schools and colleges each year move to rural areas, it could become a tremendous foundation. One incentive is smart farms. There are successive success stories of young people, including law students and former corporate employees, starting smart farm businesses. Young farmers face difficulties securing farmland and funds despite sufficient preparation opportunities, so resolving these is a policy task. We plan to establish a ‘Comprehensive Plan for Youth Farmer Development’ this year.

- Rural areas are aging and disappearing, which is another problem.

▲ Due to disparities in jobs, living conditions, and services between rural and urban areas, 97 out of 139 cities and counties were classified as at risk of disappearance as of 2020. To address this and promote regional balanced development, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is preparing to introduce a rural spatial planning system. Through rural regeneration projects, we plan to support about 400 living zones nationwide by 2031.

Minister of ‘Rice Flour’ with Principles and Conviction…Who is Jeong Hwang-geun?

When Jeong Hwang-geun, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, worked as Secretary for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs at the Blue House during the Park Geun-hye administration, there was a little-known anecdote. He was instructed to consider transferring one of the affiliated institutions under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to another ministry, but Secretary Jeong argued logically that the institution should remain due to its nature and successfully preserved it. His acquaintances say that his greatest strength is proactive administration based on principles and conviction. They cite diligence and patriotism as Minister Jeong’s virtues.

Minister Jeong’s recent nickname is the ‘Rice Flour Minister.’ This is because his first policy, announced just a month after taking office, was a plan to revitalize the rice processing industry using floury rice. The ability to connect the unfamiliar concept of rice flour to a new business and further to strengthening food sovereignty, a core national agenda of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, is the result of Minister Jeong’s long-standing determination and tenacity. This policy was not created overnight. Even when away from the field, Minister Jeong meticulously monitored the development progress of new rice flour varieties, and the policy finally saw the light of day with his appointment as minister. Private companies such as CJ are also paying attention to the success potential of this project to replace wheat flour with rice flour.

As the inaugural Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs under the Yoon administration, his second policy is expected to focus on the ‘future’ of agriculture. It is said that President Yoon emphasized to Minister Jeong at the appointment ceremony that he is the right person to lead future growth and industrialization of agriculture.

Returning to his ‘home base,’ Minister Jeong emphasizes three things within the organization: communication, positivity, and efficiency. He believes that the foundation of good policy is communication, and no matter how good a policy is, it cannot guarantee success without communication with the field.

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