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| ▲ This file photo, provided by South Korea's agriculture ministry on June 27, 2023, shows Minister Chung Hwang-keun visiting Guinea to discuss cooperation on food and the agriculture sector. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
S Korea-Africa-rice project
S. Korea launches 'K-rice belt' initiative with 8 African nations
SEOUL, July 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea launched the "K-rice belt" initiative with eight African nations Monday to provide them with quality rice varieties and share its farming know-how, ensuring their sustainable food security, the agriculture ministry said.
As part of Seoul's official development assistance (ODA), the project calls for supplying high-yield rice varieties and agricultural machines, helping Africa build irrigation and other necessary facilities, and sharing experiences and technologies regarding crop cultivation and distribution.
For the implementation, South Korea signed a memorandum of understanding with eight African nations -- Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Ghana, Cameroon, Uganda, Kenya and Guinea Bissau -- in Seoul earlier in the day, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
The initiative aims to harvest some 2,000 tons of rice varieties in Africa this year, with the figure to rise to over 10,000 tons combined per year starting 2027, a level enough to feed around 30 million people in the underdeveloped nations annually, it added.
"As a long-term, comprehensive supportive project, the K-rice belt program is expected to contribute to fundamentally resolving the food shortage problem in Africa and to enable Africa to achieve the sustainable development of the agriculture industry," the ministry said in a release.
During a session of the Group of Seven summit held in Japan in May, President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed to enhance South Korea's support for nations facing a food crisis through various ODA programs and to double the country's food aid to the World Food Program to 100,000 tons per year.
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