Paju City and Geumchon Nonghyup Complete Automated Rice Seedling Nursery... Strengthening Paju Rice Competitiveness

Improving Farm Income and Alleviating Rural Labor Shortage through High-Quality Seedling Production

Paju City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Kim Kyung-il) announced on the 18th that it held a 'Rice Automated Seedling Nursery Completion Ceremony' with Geumchon Nonghyup on the 17th.

Paju City held the 'Automated Rice Seedling Nursery Completion Ceremony' with Geumchon Nonghyup on the 17th. Photo by Paju City

The completion ceremony was attended by about 200 people, including Lee Seok-gwan, head of Geumchon Nonghyup, Park Dae-sung, chairman of the Paju City Council and city council members, Jeong Chang-yoon, head of the Food Processing Division of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, Park Ok-rae, head of the Gyeonggi Headquarters, heads and members of Nonghyup in the Paju area.

The rice automated seedling nursery, located at 284 Geumneung-dong, Paju-si, along with four other plots, was established on a site of 13,402㎡ with a facility size of 6,912㎡.

The total project cost was 6.11 billion KRW, including 250 million KRW in urban subsidies. The nursery is equipped with automated facilities such as automatic temperature control and watering systems, a germination room, seedling room, workspace, and hardening room, enabling the production of healthy seedlings.

The annual production plan (three cycles) is 91,200 seedling trays, covering a planting area of 910,000 pyeong. Although this quantity is limited to Geumchon Nonghyup members, if the consignment production volume from nearby cooperatives such as Cheonhyeon Nonghyup is added, about 150,000 seedling trays can be produced.

Lee Seok-gwan, head of the cooperative, said, "Through the rice seedling nursery, farming management costs will be reduced, increasing farm income, and it is expected to be a great help to farmers experiencing labor shortages due to aging."

Lee Tae-sung, director of the Agricultural Policy Division, said, "By supplying seedlings produced in automated facilities to cooperative members and farmers, the competitiveness of Paju rice is expected to improve," adding, "We will do our best to enhance the self-sustainability of agriculture so that farmers can feel pride and focus on farming."