Assemblyman Seo Samsuk: "Expanding Livestock Feed Crop Cultivation on Reclaimed Land Idle Areas"

2020 Compound Feed Self-Sufficiency Rate 25%, Serious Overseas Dependence on Forage Seeds

[Sinan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Jae-kyung] There have been calls for urgent government support to actively expand the cultivation of livestock feed crops on idle reclaimed land managed by the Korea Rural Community Corporation.

On the 17th, Seo Sam-seok, a member of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, and Maritime Affairs Committee (Democratic Party, Yeongam Muan Sinan), stated during the national audit that "per capita meat consumption in the country has grown to rival rice, making livestock farming a core sector in agriculture. However, the industry’s foundation is very fragile as most feed is imported."

In 2020, the per capita consumption of rice, the staple food, was 57.7 kg, while meat consumption reached 52.5 kg. The production value of livestock farming also surged sharply, increasing from 8.1 trillion won, which was 25% of total agricultural production in 2000, to 19.8 trillion won, or 40% in 2019?an increase of 2.4 times in value and 15 percentage points in share.

Despite its enormous share in Korean agriculture and fisheries, the production and market foundation of livestock farming is very vulnerable. The self-sufficiency rate for compound feed ingredients essential for raising livestock, such as corn and soybeans, is only 25%.

Although the self-sufficiency rate for forage crops is relatively high at 82%, the heavy reliance on imported seeds means that price surges in imports directly burden domestic livestock farmers.

Unlike production adjustment, cultivating feed crops on reclaimed land utilizes idle farmland, making it a tailored income stabilization measure for livestock farmers.

In 2020, the Rural Development Administration collaborated with professional agricultural managers to demonstrate mechanized cultivation of Italian ryegrass (IRG), a forage crop, on 450 hectares of Saemangeum reclaimed land. They revealed that by removing soil salts through forage cultivation, various crops can be grown even on reclaimed land, and as soil organic matter accumulates, productivity increases. Therefore, there is a need to expand forage cultivation on idle reclaimed land.

Assemblyman Seo Sam-seok stated, "The sustainability of Korean livestock farming cannot be guaranteed unless the issue of overseas dependence on livestock feed is resolved," explaining the background for proposing measures to utilize idle farmland on reclaimed land.

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