Rice Cultivation Area Down 2.6%... Lowest Record Ever

This year, the rice cultivation area was recorded as the smallest ever. This is due to the continuous decrease in rice consumption.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the "2023 Rice and Chili Pepper Cultivation Area Survey Results" announced by Statistics Korea on the 29th, this year's rice cultivation area was 708,041 hectares (1 hectare = 10,000㎡), which is 19,013 hectares (2.6%) less than last year. This is the smallest area since the related statistics began in 1975.

The rice cultivation area, which exceeded 1 million hectares at 1,016,030 hectares in 2003, decreased to 832,625 hectares by 2013. Statistics Korea analyzed that the decrease in rice consumption and the government's supply-demand balance policies have influenced the reduction in cultivation area.

By province, the areas were largest in Jeonnam (149,896 ha), Chungnam (131,643 ha), Jeonbuk (107,383 ha), Gyeongbuk (93,253 ha), and Gyeonggi (73,187 ha), in that order.

Due to factors such as increased production costs, the chili pepper cultivation area also decreased compared to the previous year. The chili pepper cultivation area was 27,129 hectares, down 2,641 hectares (8.9%) from the previous year. By province, the largest cultivation areas were in Gyeongbuk (7,269 ha), Jeonnam (4,050 ha), Jeonbuk (3,106 ha), Chungnam (3,034 ha), and Chungbuk (2,477 ha), respectively.

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