Jeongeup-si Selected for 'Specialty Resource Convergence Technology Support Project' Competition

Published 06 Sep.2023 10:29(KST)

Jeongeup City in Jeollabuk-do announced on the 6th that it has been selected for the “Specialty Resources Convergence Technology Support Project” organized by the Rural Development Administration.

This project aims to promote differentiated specialty products tailored to regional characteristics and enhance added value through the dissemination of convergence technologies linking specialized crops, R&D research and development technologies, and agricultural and rural resources.

Jeongeup City Hall. [Photo by Jeongeup City]

With this selection, the city has secured a total project budget of 1 billion KRW from next year through 2025 and plans to develop marketable healthy food products by converging oats, which contain antioxidant and anti-dementia functional ingredients, with wheat, soybeans, and rice.

Additionally, the city will form a production-processing-distribution-expert network council and strategically respond to promotional marketing by creating a joint brand.

Oats began to attract attention after being selected as one of the world’s top 10 superfoods by the US Times.

Oats, which were an unfamiliar grain in Korea, were first successfully cultivated domestically in 2004 through breeding research by the Jeongeup Premium Oat Project Group and the Rural Development Administration.

In particular, by producing and processing high-quality oats using native Korean seeds, the project received the Presidential Citation in 2018 and the Governor’s Certified Product certification in 2019.

A city official stated, “We will establish new convergence products utilizing local specialty resources as Jeongeup City’s representative brand and build a sustainable business system to promote it as a new growth engine business, contributing to the revitalization of the local economy.”