Gyeongbuk Gyeongsan-si Selected as the Nation's First 'Disease-Free Fruit Tree Management Institution'

Rising as a Leading Domestic Producer of Disease-Free Seedlings for the Top 5 Crop Species

Gyeongsan City was finally selected on the 27th for the fruit tree disease-free management institution contest project hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yeo Jong-gu] Gyeongsan City in Gyeongbuk announced on the 27th that it has been finally selected for the ‘Disease-Free Fruit Tree Management Institution’ public contest project.

This project is a public contest hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and for the first time among local governments nationwide, three institutions (Gyeongsan City, Okcheon County, and the Foundation of Agricultural Technology Commercialization and Transfer) were selected as disease-free fruit tree management institutions.

The city is the largest seedling production area in the country, designated as a seedling industry special zone in 2007, and currently about 600 farms are engaged in the seedling business over 415 hectares. It produces 30 million various seedlings annually.

Going forward, the disease-free fruit tree management institution will be operated at the Seedling Technology Development Center of the Gyeongsan Agricultural Technology Center.

It is expected to lower the virus infection rate of the five major fruit species cultivated domestically (apple, pear, peach, grape, citrus) and increase the nationwide disease-free seedling distribution rate from 2.2% (as of 2021) to 60% by 2030.

In addition, it will handle disease-free treatment and discover disease-free mother plants of the main local seedling varieties such as apple and grape, maintain disease-free mother plants through virus and viroid testing of fruit tree seedlings, and support stable production and supply of disease-free seedlings nationwide.

Lee Soo-il, director of the Gyeongsan Agricultural Technology Center, said, “Gyeongsan, the largest seedling production area in Korea with a 100-year history, will take this as a cornerstone to prepare for a new 100 years as a leading player in disease-free seedling production.”