Climate-Adaptive Varieties Developed with Hundreds of Billions Remain Out of Reach for Farmers

738 Billion Won Invested, but Distribution Rate for Fruit and Vegetables Remains at 'Half'
Moon Geumju Points Out Urgent Need for Comprehensive Plan Linking Development and Distribution

Moon Geumju, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is making the inquiry.

As climate change is expected to rapidly eliminate major fruit cultivation areas in Korea, there are growing concerns that "climate-adaptive varieties," developed with massive budgets, are not being properly distributed to farms. Despite 73.8 billion won having been invested in such projects over the past 10 years, the distribution rate of horticultural crops such as fruit and vegetables remains less than half the number of varieties developed, raising questions about the effectiveness of these initiatives.

According to data submitted by Moon Geumju, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea representing Goseong, Boseong, Jangheung, and Gangjin in South Jeolla Province, to the Rural Development Administration on October 17, if the current level of greenhouse gas emissions continues (SSP3-7.0 scenario), the area used for apple cultivation is projected to decrease by 96.5%, from an average of 672,400 hectares (1981-2010) to just around 200 hectares in the 2070s. This would mean near-total extinction of apple cultivation, except for some mountainous regions in Gangwon Province.

Despite the reality of the climate crisis and the rapid changes in crop cultivation environments, the response remains sluggish. Over the past 10 years, the Rural Development Administration has developed a total of 180 climate-adaptive varieties, pouring 73.8 billion won into these efforts-an amount accounting for 36.4% of the total variety development budget. However, the results in terms of field distribution have been disappointing. While the distribution rate for climate-adaptive varieties of staple crops (such as rice and wheat) stands relatively high at 86.1%, the rate for horticultural crops, including fruit and vegetables, is only 45.0%. This means that more than half of the developed varieties have not even reached farms.

The low distribution rate is attributed to a disconnect between variety development and distribution support policies. The Rural Development Administration operates climate-adaptive variety development and distribution support projects separately, and there are no independent policies or budgetary support specifically aimed at promoting the distribution of climate-adaptive varieties.

Furthermore, the actual scale of distribution support is minimal compared to the burden on farms when switching varieties. This year, the distribution support budget for fruit is only 1.6 billion won, and for vegetables, it is 925 million won. When limited to climate-adaptive varieties, the budgets shrink further to 1.26 billion won for fruit and 150 million won for vegetables.

Moon Geumju stated, "The climate-adaptive variety development project must encompass the entire process until the developed varieties take root in farmers' fields and bear practical results," urging, "The Rural Development Administration should not focus solely on development, but should immediately establish a comprehensive plan for the development and distribution of climate-adaptive varieties, including long-term goals for both development and distribution."

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