Gyeonggi Province Agricultural Technology Center Announces Analysis Results on Agricultural Product Production and Demand Matching

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hoon] Analysis shows that while demand for carrots, potatoes, radishes, and onions is high in school meals across Gyeonggi Province, production levels in the region remain low, indicating that improvements in production systems are necessary to achieve food self-sufficiency.

According to the Gyeonggi Province Agricultural Technology Center on the 22nd, the center processed 100,000 records of agricultural management entity registrations from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and 350,000 school meal information records from Gyeonggi Province, creating maps that classified production levels by legal district into grades 1-3 respectively, and analyzed which regions experience concentrated production by item.

This represents the first step in improving food vulnerabilities for residents and is a measure to realize the policy objectives of Gyeonggi Province's food strategy of "food security" through identifying production areas for shortage items in school meals.

Analysis results show that among all 607 crop types, "rice" is the item with the most stable production and demand balance, with both production and demand in the top 10 percent.

Rice is cultivated on 69,905 hectares, representing half (50.8%) of total cultivated area, followed by ▲soybeans 7,702ha (5.6%) ▲perilla leaves 6,220ha (4.5%) ▲dried red peppers 4,956ha (3.6%) ▲sweet potatoes 3,161ha (2.3%) and others in that order.

Among all 607 crop types, the top 10 items account for 73.7% of total cultivated area.

Meanwhile, among 206 total items (21,975 tons) handled in school meals, consumption of agricultural products from within the province accounts for 71.3% of total quantity, while those from outside the province account for 28.7%.

Among these, 10 cultivated items with high out-of-province handling rates—carrots, potatoes, radishes, cabbage, onions, garlic, green onions, apples, grapes, and melons—account for 29.6% of school meal handling quantity.

Analysis indicates that each of these items fails to meet high meal demand through production, making it necessary to either increase production or change distribution channels to ensure production sustainability.

The province plans to widely distribute the agricultural product production map created this time through the Gyeonggi Province Food Committee, the Provincial Assembly, and agricultural policy departments, ensuring it is utilized in improving the production system.

Kim Seok-chul, Director of the Gyeonggi Province Agricultural Technology Center, stated, "Based on shortage items for school meals derived from this agricultural product production map, we will carefully review measures to promote food diversity and apply them to improving Gyeonggi Province's agricultural product production systems."

Meanwhile, the "Gyeonggi Province Agricultural Product Production Map," which allows at-a-glance viewing of agricultural production areas throughout the province, can be accessed through the Gyeonggi Real Estate Portal (gris.gg.go.kr).