Buyeo-gun, Chungnam Province, announced on the 3rd that it will invest a total project cost of 14 billion KRW to promote the 'Agricultural By-products Resource Facility' project.
This project, selected for the second phase of the second round of the Chungnam Balanced Development Project, aims to recycle agricultural by-products to produce organic fertilizers and total mixed ration (TMR) feed ingredients from 2026 to 2030.
The county is a leading agricultural city, ranking first in the nation for the production of chestnuts, king jujubes, mushrooms, watermelon, shiitake, melon, and tomatoes.
However, local farmers and residents have long suffered due to large quantities of agricultural by-products such as horticultural crop stems, chili stalks, and perilla stems.
According to the 'Survey on the Disposal of Agricultural By-products and Waste in Rural Areas' conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in 2020 targeting farms in Chungcheong, Jeolla, and Gyeongsang regions, 77.8% of farms reported having experience burning agricultural by-products.
In response, with the launch of the 8th civil administration, the county focused its administrative efforts on securing national and provincial funds to establish the 'Agricultural By-products Resource Facility' in order to prevent wildfires, reduce air pollution, and address farmers' difficulties, resulting in its selection for the balanced development project.
The county expects that recycling thousands of tons of agricultural by-products annually will contribute to reducing carbon emissions, lowering farming costs, revitalizing agriculture, and creating jobs.
A county official stated, "We will move away from simply discarding agricultural by-products, realize a circular economy, and create a model case where agriculture and the environment are in harmony."
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