Over 52.7 Billion Won Invested Over 5 Years to Develop 8 Specialized Crops Including Wine Grapes in Chungbuk

RDA "Aiming for 10% Annual Growth in Domestic Sales and Exports"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Rural Development Administration announced on the 28th that it will invest 52.7 billion KRW over the next five years to foster eight specialized crops, including wine grapes, in Chungcheongbuk-do. Through this, they plan to grow the domestic and export markets of these eight crops by more than 10% annually and cultivate three crops to become the top producers nationwide.

The Rural Development Administration and Chungbuk Agricultural Research and Extension Services selected eight specialized crops, including wine grapes, jujube, garlic, watermelon, corn, apples, peaches, and insects, and plan to focus on their development over five years. They will provide multifaceted support such as developing superior new varieties, high-quality production and cultivation technologies, establishing processing and distribution systems, and expanding domestic and export markets.

In particular, wine grapes and jujube have been selected as nationally focused crops for separate support. Chungbuk aims to fully utilize its characteristics as the third-largest grape cultivation area nationwide (1,638 ha) and Yeongdong region as the top wine production area in the country. Currently, most grapes grown are imported varieties, and the domestic wine market share is only 7%, but they plan to increase the market share to 20% by 2025 through new variety development. To this end, they will cultivate new varieties with small berries, strong resistance to pests and diseases, and high sugar and acidity levels.

By establishing smart farm cultivation technology for grapes, they plan to reduce farmers' labor hours from the current 183 hours per 10a (1,000㎡, 300 pyeong) to 100 hours by 2025, a 45.4% reduction, and double income from 4.645 million KRW to 9.3 million KRW per 10a.

Additionally, for jujube, they plan to increase production value by 22.5%, from 25.3 billion KRW to 31 billion KRW, by cultivating superior varieties, and raise farmers' income by 27.5%, from 2.51 million KRW to 3.2 million KRW per 10a. Lee Seungdon, head of the Research Policy Division at the Rural Development Administration, said, "We will expand the market size of the eight specialized crops in Chungbuk and strengthen export competitiveness to increase farmers' average annual income growth rate to more than twice that of farmers nationwide."

Meanwhile, besides Chungbuk, the Rural Development Administration plans to implement the '1st Comprehensive Plan' to select 69 regional specialized crops in nine provinces nationwide, including Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chungnam, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Jeonbuk, Jeonnam, and Jeju, and focus on their development from this year through 2025.