Gokseong-gun Focuses Efforts to Become a Major Blueberry Production Area

Published 05 Apr.2023 15:55(KST)

Expansion of Public Selection Shipment, Emerging as a Production Area for Fresh Fruit Shipment

Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Lee Sang-cheol) announced that from the 5th, blueberry joint sorting will begin through the Gokseong Nonghyup APC.

The county has been conducting joint shipment of blueberries since last year to enhance external competitiveness through scaling and standardization of blueberries and to address the labor shortage problem in rural areas.

[Photo by Gokseong-gun]

In addition, through collaboration with Gokseong Nonghyup, the plan is to gradually expand the scale of joint selection and establish its position as a major early blueberry cultivation area.

Usually, blueberries are grown outdoors, and the main harvest period is from June to July.

Gokseong-gun is actively implementing policies to advance the harvest period by using heated cultivation in facility greenhouses.

As of April 5, the average wholesale price for premium 1kg blueberries is 55,000 KRW, which is about 3.5 times higher than the June average price of 15,000 KRW.

Gokseong-gun achieved a production volume of 178 tons and gross income of 5.5 billion KRW last year, establishing itself as a major income fruit tree, and aims to reach 250 tons of production and 7.7 billion KRW of gross income through infrastructure support.

Currently, the cultivation area of 34 hectares is planned to be expanded to 50 hectares by 2025, striving to become a production area capable of shipping fresh fruit over a long period from March to August.

An official from the county stated, “Gokseong-gun is a clean mid-mountain area with a large temperature difference between day and night, and due to facility cultivation for early production, the blueberries have high sugar content and firmness, making their quality excellent.

We will do our best to foster blueberries as our county’s representative crop and to leap forward as the best blueberry production area nationwide.”

Gokseong-gun conducts more than five training sessions annually to strengthen farmers’ capabilities, and since February, has been operating the 13th Gokseong Premium Agricultural University blueberry course, providing 100 hours of cultivation technology education annually.