Jeong Hwang-geun, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, "Maintain rice price at around 200,000 won during harvest season"

Jeong Hwang-geun, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said on the 11th, "The expected rice production this year is 3.68 million tons, which slightly exceeds the supply-demand balance level, making stable supply and demand management possible."

Minister Jeong stated this during his opening remarks at the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee's audit held at the National Assembly in Seoul that morning. He said, "To maintain the rice price at around 200,000 won during the harvest season, we have been implementing measures such as the strategic crop direct payment system as the core, proactive reduction of cultivation areas, and special disposal of old rice."

Minister Jeong Hwang-geun of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is responding to questions from lawmakers at the full meeting of the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee held at the National Assembly on the 24th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Regarding the progress of major tasks, he explained, "To ensure appropriate rice production, we utilized the strategic crop direct payment system introduced this year to reduce the rice cultivation area by 19,000 hectares, contributing to the rice supply-demand balance and expanding the self-sufficiency base of major grains such as rice flour, wheat, and soybeans."

He also strengthened official development assistance (ODA) to expand exports of K-Food+. Minister Jeong emphasized, "Agricultural food exports turned to an increasing trend compared to the previous year as of September, and as of the end of last month, the export scale of K-Food+ was 8.89 billion dollars. As a result of efforts to pioneer new markets such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East this year, we achieved the milestone of exporting Korean beef to Malaysia and Cambodia for the first time."

Minister Jeong said, "I am carrying out my duties with a heavy sense of responsibility and a creative and proactive attitude so that our agriculture can develop into a future growth industry. Based on the budget bill and other resources, we will create visible results for resolving field difficulties and for major policy tasks for the development of agriculture and rural areas, so that our agriculture can be reborn as an industry loved by the people."

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