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01. Stabilizing Food Production Using Rice Paddy
The global demand for food is continuously increasing along with the growing population and consumption. Moreover, competition for land, water, and energy is expected to significantly affect Korea¡¯s capacity to access and produce food. The effects of climate change are also another serious threat on the food supply. Hence, this agenda is envisioned to solve food security issues by stabilizing food production.
Through this agenda, it is hoped that new varieties of main grains including rice, wheat, barley, and oat, which are mainly grown in paddy field will be developed. It also aims to produce stable high-quality crops, create cost-saving technologies, and increase the rate of farmland utilization.
The research fields are composed of three main areas:
(1) improvement of rice variety;
(2) development of crop cultivation technology and product quality management; and (3) development of winter cereal varieties as well as technology for its higher productivity.
The National Institute of Crop Science (NICS) will lead the implementation of this agendaby developing and expanding genetic crop resources, developing high-quality and low-cost crop production technology. Universities and colleges, private institutes, companies, farmers and other stakeholders will be tapped and consulted for a holistic and proper implementation.
Uncertainties and the elements of national food shortage will be properly identified, addressed, and eliminated through this agenda by increasing farm income and enhancing value-added crops. Furthermore, the agenda can have an import substitution effect on wheat and malting barley. With the development of traditional foods and specialty crops for processing, it is also expected that the program will help jump-start and activate processing industries and increase crop consumption.
