Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs: "Pesticide Exports Double This Year... R&D Support for Domestic Active Ingredients from Next Year"

K-Agricultural Equipment Export Field Meeting

The government has decided to embark on research and development (R&D) starting next year to reduce dependence on imported active ingredients in order to sustain the strong export trend of K-pesticides. Active ingredients are substances in which the effective components of pesticides are concentrated.

On the 14th, Kwon Jae-han, Director of the Agricultural Innovation Policy Office at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, visited Farm Hannong, a domestic crop protection agent (pesticide) export company, and held an on-site meeting to listen to difficulties related to exports.

In the global pesticide market dominated by multinational corporations, the domestic company Farm Hannong is expanding pesticide exports based on its self-developed active ingredients. From the beginning of this year until October, Farm Hannong exported $76.4 million, a 42.2% increase compared to the same period last year ($53.7 million).

Thanks to Farm Hannong’s strong performance, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs expects pesticide export value this year to nearly double compared to last year ($231 million).

The ministry is also striving to develop the agricultural machinery and materials sector as an export industry, launching the K-Food Plus (K-Food+) Export Expansion Headquarters in 2023. Accordingly, the budget to support agricultural machinery and materials export companies will be significantly increased from 1.8 billion KRW this year to 3.2 billion KRW next year.

At the meeting, Farm Hannong suggested that research and development support is needed for new development so that domestic agricultural machinery and materials companies can reduce their dependence on imported active ingredients. The ministry plans to establish an R&D budget from next year to support the development of export-strategic crop protection agent active ingredients, aiming to alleviate dependence on imported active ingredients.

Director Kwon said, "We plan to expand related support so that agricultural machinery and materials exporters can gain international competitiveness. Furthermore, we will continue to frequently create opportunities for communication between the government and industry to promptly resolve industry difficulties."

Kwon Jae-han, Director of Agricultural Innovation Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, is speaking while presiding over an on-site meeting at Farm Hannong, a domestic crop protection product export company, on the 14th.

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