Gangjin-gun Wins Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Award at the 17th Local Autonomy Management Competition

Recognition for Establishing a Customer Database for Agricultural Specialty Products and Promoting Online Direct Transactions

Gangjin County received the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Award (Excellence Award) in the field of agricultural and livestock specialty products. ⓒ Asia Economy

[Gangjin＝Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-su] Gangjin County in Jeollanam-do received the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Award (Excellence Award) in the agricultural and livestock specialty products category at the 17th Local Autonomy Management Competition held on the 15th for its case of ‘Establishing a Customer DB for Agricultural Specialty Products Purchases and Revitalizing Direct Transactions through Online Sales.’

According to the county on the 18th, the Local Autonomy Management Competition, hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and Hankook Ilbo, and supported by six central government ministries including the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, has been held annually since 2004 to discover and spread creative development strategies and distinctive policies of local governments nationwide.

This year’s competition saw fierce competition with 81 local governments nationwide submitting cases in nine fields including regional economy, cultural tourism, and agricultural and livestock specialty products, among which 34 local governments were honored with awards.

Gangjin County, to help flower farmers who fell into crisis due to decreased consumption and price drops caused by the reduction or cancellation of various events since last year due to COVID-19, pioneered the nation’s first ‘online direct sales of flowers (fresh flowers)’ and continued its sold-out streak this year following last year, selling a total of about 900,000 flowers worth over 1.7 billion KRW.

In addition, to overcome the disadvantage of the main consumers of agricultural specialty products being located far away, the county focused on lifelong customer conversion through consumer direct sales using parcel delivery and systematic DB management of purchasing customers. As a result, sales have been increasing every year, recording 11.5 billion KRW in 2018, 12.3 billion KRW in 2019, and 24.7 billion KRW in 2020. By September of this year, sales reached 25.8 billion KRW, a 44% increase compared to 17.9 billion KRW during the same period last year, pioneering a new market and leading a stable sales channel, which was highly evaluated.

County Governor Lee Seung-ok said, “To help flower farmers struggling due to COVID-19, the local government and flower farmers worked closely together to actively promote the work, contributing not only to local flower businesses but also to stabilizing flower prices nationwide through online direct sales of flowers.” He added, “We plan to strengthen the distribution system to enable agricultural income generation through the revitalization of direct transactions in the future.”

Meanwhile, the county received plaques of appreciation from the Korea Flower Association in July last year, the Korea Cut Flower Association in November, and the Korea Agricultural Fund Council in June this year for its contribution to stabilizing domestic flower market prices.

Gangjin=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-su kys86120@asiae.co.kr