Gangjin-gun Wins Grand Prize for Food and Horticulture Evaluation Two Years in a Row

Outstanding Achievements in Agricultural Insurance Policy Reform and Strengthening Competitiveness of Horticultural and Specialty Crops

[Gangjin=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-su] Gangjin-gun, Jeollanam-do, won the 'Grand Prize' again this year in the '2022 Jeollanam-do Food and Horticulture Work Evaluation,' following last year.

The Food and Horticulture Evaluation is designed to enhance project feasibility and encourage active participation of cities and counties by evaluating food and horticulture sector projects in detail. It comprehensively evaluates excellent cities and counties across 14 items in three fields: ▲Food Policy ▲Horticulture Industry ▲Subtropical Agriculture.

Gangjin-gun won the grand prize in the Food and Horticulture Evaluation for two consecutive years. With this, it achieved a triple crown in the 2022 Jeollanam-do agricultural sector evaluations, including the Best Award in Agricultural Policy Evaluation and the Excellence Award in Agricultural Food Distribution Evaluation.

Gangjin-gun additionally supported the cultivation of non-rice crops in paddy fields with county funds to expand the area of non-rice crops for appropriate rice production area, and included rice oats, a representative crop of Gangjin, as a new item in the 2023 Crop Disaster Insurance.

Rice oats had been excluded from the crop disaster insurance items, so farmers could not receive insurance benefits even if damage occurred due to winter heavy rain or abnormal low temperatures. The county actively petitioned the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to register oats as a crop disaster insurance item, conducted demand surveys and evaluations, and as a result of these efforts, farmers will be able to enjoy insurance benefits starting next year.

Also, through continuous support for facility greenhouses, the county has expanded the production base for year-round food ingredients and eco-friendly vegetables, and promoted nine projects with a budget of 430 million won to strengthen the competitiveness of fruit farmers, including high-quality fruit facility modernization and integrated fruit marketing support.

Gangjin-gun actively participated in smart agriculture sector public projects such as the Facility Horticulture ICT Convergence Expansion Project, Renewable Energy Efficiency Project, and Export Specialized Smart Farm Greenhouse Construction Project, resulting in six corporations being selected. By spreading advanced automation system technology, it is actively responding to future agricultural changes.

Gangjinwon, the head of Gangjin-gun, said, "Winning the grand prize in the Food and Horticulture Evaluation for two consecutive years is the result of joint efforts by the county and farmers to establish a food and horticulture production base and enhance competitiveness," and added, "We will continue to focus all administrative power to increase the actual income of farmers."

He continued, "The competitiveness of agriculture and fisheries, which account for more than 71% of the county's industrial structure, is the competitiveness of Gangjin-gun," and said, "We will gradually raise the primary industry budget to more than 30% of the total budget to overcome COVID-19 and economic recession and create a new agricultural foundation that will not be shaken by any crisis."

Gangjin=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-su gabrielw@asiae.co.kr

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