Built Buildings on Rice Fields... Over 20,000 Hectares of Farmland Lost Annually

Statistics Korea '2022 Land Area Survey Results'
Rice paddies and fields decreased by 4,000 ha in Jeonnam alone

Last year, the area of rice paddies and fields in South Korea decreased by 18,479 hectares (ha). Most of the reduced farmland was converted into buildings or public facilities.

According to the "2022 Farmland Area Survey Results" announced by Statistics Korea on the 27th, the farmland area last year was 1,528,237 ha, down 1.2% from 1,546,717 ha the previous year. This marks a decline for 10 consecutive years since 2013. The area of rice paddies was 775,640 ha, shrinking by 4,800 ha (0.6%) during the same period, while the area of fields decreased by 13,680 ha (1.8%) to 752,597 ha.

By region, Jeollanam-do, which includes fertile plains such as the Naju Plain, saw the largest decrease of 3,982 ha. Jeollanam-do had 286,396 ha of farmland in 2020, which gradually decreased to 281,077 ha in 2021 and 277,095 ha in 2022. Among these, rice paddies decreased by 1,529 ha and fields by 2,453 ha.

The main reason for the farmland reduction was building construction. The actual farmland reduction area was 21,000 ha, of which 7,000 ha (one-third) disappeared due to building construction. Another 1,900 ha were lost due to public facilities, and 5,700 ha became idle land.

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