Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Rural Development Administration Hold Video Conference with Related Agencies on 29th
Check Standard Operating Procedures for Mobilizing Personnel and Equipment... Strengthen Response Capabilities
[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Rural Development Administration announced on the 29th that they will conduct a virtual drill to check the standard operating procedures by local governments to prevent the spread of fire blight disease in fruit trees.
Last year, the Rural Development Administration established standard operating procedures that organize the mobilization procedures for necessary personnel and equipment and the division of tasks among agencies to enable rapid response on-site during the concentrated outbreak of fire blight disease.
Centered on 8 provinces producing apples and pears and 17 affected cities and counties, each local government will establish a response promotion system according to the standard operating procedures in case of fire blight disease occurrence. They plan to swiftly carry out control tasks according to pre-prepared plans for personnel, facilities, and equipment utilization.
The virtual drill aims to check and supplement the standard operating procedures and strengthen on-site response capabilities. Related organizations including the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Rural Development Administration, the Quarantine Headquarters, agricultural technology institutes of 8 provinces, agricultural technology centers of 17 affected cities and counties, and the NongHyup Economic Holdings participate.
The drill sets hypothetical situations such as concentrated outbreaks of fire blight disease in specific areas, delays in burial due to monsoon or heavy rain, and new outbreaks in unaffected areas. It checks the roles of each agency, detailed response procedures, inter-agency cooperation systems, and key management points.
In particular, if outbreaks occur in multiple farms, the plan will focus on confirming the operation plan of the situation room according to crisis alert levels, the missions of response teams such as the situation control team, on-site response team, and follow-up treatment team, and the procedures for personnel and equipment operation at each stage.
Along with this, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Rural Development Administration, and local governments removed cankers during the winter season targeting 60,000 apple and pear farms nationwide to minimize fire blight disease occurrence this year. They are also conducting pesticide spraying during the flowering period with support of 9.8 billion KRW for pesticides.
Kim Boram, Director of the Food Industry Division at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "We will do our best to prevent the spread of fire blight disease this year by improving the response capabilities of on-site control agencies through the establishment of standard operating procedures and virtual drills, and by strengthening cooperation among related organizations."
Kim Junghwa, Director of Disaster Response Division at the Rural Development Administration, said, "Since the 15th, we have been operating the fire blight disease countermeasure situation room and strengthened pre-surveillance for early detection," and urged, "Please thoroughly follow basic prevention rules and report immediately if suspicious symptoms are found."
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