"Rice Prices Worse Than Chewing Gum: Not Even One-Tenth! ... Rice, the Core and Foundation of Our Agriculture"

Joint Statement by Governors Nationwide Urging 'Measures to Stabilize Rice Prices' at National Assembly on 15th

Calls for Expansion of Public Stockpiles, Proactive Market Isolation, and Appropriate Production Measures

Joint Statement Urging Measures to Stabilize Rice Prices
Names of Governors from 8 Major Rice-Producing Regions

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province (Chairman of the Korea Association of Governors), strongly demanded that the government actively take measures to stabilize rice prices as rice prices recorded the largest decline, together with the governors of eight major rice-producing metropolitan autonomous regions nationwide.

According to Statistics Korea data, despite three rounds of market isolation, the farm-gate rice price has continuously fallen since recording 227,212 KRW/80kg on October 5 last year.

At the end of last month, the price fell below 170,000 KRW for the first time since 2018, recording 164,740 KRW/80kg as of September 5.

While the prices of fertilizers and agricultural materials continue to rise daily, rice prices are plummeting every day, leaving farmers devastated.

In response, representing the eight major rice-producing provinces (Gyeongbuk, Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chungnam, Chungbuk, Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, Gyeongnam), Governor Lee Cheol-woo of Gyeongbuk and Governor Kim Young-rok of Jeonnam issued a joint statement on the 15th at the National Assembly, urging the establishment of measures to stabilize rice prices.

Through the joint statement, they urged, “Farmers are suffering double hardships due to rising production costs and plummeting rice prices,” and emphasized, “If rice farming is shaken, not only the lives of farmers but also the Republic of Korea will inevitably be shaken. This is a critical issue that requires immediate measures to stabilize rice prices.”

They further demanded expanding the public stockpile volume, including imported rice, from 800,000 tons to 1 million tons of purely domestic rice to strengthen food security and expand overseas aid, and to purchase all remaining 2021 rice stock before the shipment of the 2022 new rice crop.

They also requested practical measures for appropriate rice production and income preservation, such as preemptive market isolation in case of predicted oversupply of the 2022 crop and the revival of government subsidies for cultivating crops other than rice in paddy fields.

Lee Cheol-woo, Chairman of the Korea Association of Governors, reiterated, “Rice is the center and foundation of our agriculture, and since there are limits to stabilizing rice prices by local governments alone, the government must actively step forward and establish countermeasures.”

Gyeongbuk Province launched the Agricultural Transformation Promotion Committee with the start of the 8th local government term and is implementing policies to secure food sovereignty, strengthen farm management stability, and support linked food security crisis response measures, which are among the 120 national tasks of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration.

In addition, special support for income preservation and management stability of rice farmers, policies for appropriate rice production such as switching to other crops in paddy fields, and various measures to promote rice consumption, including fostering the rice processing industry, encouraging breakfast consumption among elementary, middle, and high school students, and promoting excellent brand rice campaigns, are also being pursued.

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