Due to Weather Disasters, 'Geum Sagwa'... Disaster Prevention Facilities to Be Greatly Expanded

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to Announce Mid- to Long-Term Horticultural Crop Measures Next Month
Expansion of Frost Protection Facility Support, Development of Stress-Resistant Varieties

The government, as the instability in fruit prices such as apples and pears continues, has decided to significantly expand support for disaster prevention facilities for fruit trees to prevent production reductions caused by successive weather disasters, and to develop and distribute varieties resistant to disasters.

An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs stated on the 15th, "Last year, production of apples and pears decreased due to weather disasters such as cold damage and hail, resulting in higher prices compared to other seasonal products during this Lunar New Year holiday," adding, "We plan to increase facility support to fundamentally address the frequent weather disasters and announce a 'Mid- to Long-term Plan for Horticultural Agricultural Products' including measures such as variety improvement by the end of next month."

Ahead of this Lunar New Year holiday, prices of apples and pears surged. The consumer price for 10 apples (standard grade) averaged 26,412 KRW from January 19 to February 8 this year, up 10.4% compared to January 2-20 before last year’s Lunar New Year holiday. Pears (10 pieces) rose 18.9% to 32,725 KRW. In contrast, prices of 16 other Lunar New Year seasonal products were on average 3.2% lower than the previous year.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs attributes this rise in apple and pear prices to significant production decreases caused by last year’s cold damage and anthracnose. They believe that short-term measures such as increasing supply and providing discounts ahead of this Lunar New Year holiday are insufficient for sustained price stability, and are therefore preparing more long-term measures to minimize damage from abnormal weather.

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In fact, last year’s apple production was 394,000 tons, a sharp decline of 30.3% compared to the previous year. This was due to various disasters, and disaster insurance payments to apple farmers alone amounted to 223.871 billion KRW last year. This is an 85% increase compared to one year earlier and a 15.2% increase compared to the average of the previous three years (194.284 billion KRW), indicating the frequency of disasters.

Accordingly, the Ministry formed a 'Fruit Tree Growth Management Council' last month to monitor and manage fruit growth conditions in advance this year, and plans to expand disaster prevention facilities. They plan to expand support for facilities such as 'hot air wind fans' that supply warm air to prevent cold air stagnation, and 'micro-sprinkler devices' that continuously spray water to raise the surrounding temperature. They will also actively pursue the development of disaster-resistant varieties.

An official from the Ministry said, "Centered on the Fruit Tree Growth Management Council, we will support various growth management methods to reduce disaster damage and expand support for installing disaster prevention facilities," adding, "The specific scale of support expansion will be decided through consultations with budget authorities."

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