Gyeonggi Province promotes four strategic initiatives

The eastern part of Gyeonggi Province will soon be transformed into a clean farm belt. In addition, an environmentally-friendly agricultural logistics center will be developed in that area, with the aim of establishing an environmentally friendly farming logistics system.

On October 17, Gyeonggi Province announced four strategic initiatives to develop the environmentally-friendly agricultural industry, with the aim of meeting the increasing demand for environmentally-friendly agricultural products.

According to the province, an international organic farming academic conference will be held in 2008, followed by the creation of a clean farm belt in Paldang in 2009. The province will hold the 17th world eco-farm conference in 2011.

The international eco-farm conference will be held for four days starting on March 11, 2008, in a joint venture between the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR) and the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture in Korea. The conference will feature academic presentations and symposiums on fostering organic agriculture cultivation technology, certification processes for organic products, and exchanging organic farming technologies and information between industrialized countries.

The Paldang clean farm belt development initiative, which will start in 2009, intends to foster a world-class clean farm belt in Paldang, with the ultimate aim of helping the eastern part of Gyeonggi Province grow into a global environmentally-friendly mecca. The province will launch a joint committee with the participation of community residents, environmentally-friendly farming groups, and Seoul city, and will be preparing a detailed business plan after outsourcing the research aspect.

The creation of the Paldang clean farm belt will help achieve the balanced growth of the seven cities and districts of the Paldang area which is currently underdeveloped, as well as enhancing the water quality of the dam.

Gyeonggi Province will invest KRW 72 billion by 2010 for the purpose of establishing an environmentally-friendly logistics center in Gwangju to form a logistics system for environmentally friendly farm products, while reducing costs and expanding distribution channels to ease market access for customers.

Finally, the world organic farm conference will be held in 2011. This conference will be held to foster the development of an environmentally friendly farming industry and enhance the international stature of the Korean farming industry, and will be participated in by 750 member groups in 107 countries worldwide. It will establish the guiding principles for gaining organic certification in Korea, while attracting 20,000 tourists and thus contributing to the vitalization of the regional economy.

In addition to these four initiatives, the province also plans to inject KRW 13 billion annually until 2011, as a means of expanding the environmentally friendly area, currently 14,000 hectares, to 180,000 hectares, to fortify the basis of the environmentally friendly farm industry.

Moreover, it will expand the number of areas designated for environmentally friendly use to six areas (KRW 3.1 billion) from the two (KRW 700 million), while creating 11 well-being farm produce production business (KRW 2.2 billion), expanding the pest protection area to 50 hectares (KRW 300 million), creating 2000 farm households that have environmentally friendly certified products (KRW 600 million), and giving financial support to environmentally friendly farms worth 2,510 hectares (KRW 1.1 billion).