Yeoju City Holds '2025 Second Rice Industry Special Zone Committee' Meeting

[Suwon Ilbo=Eom In-yong Reporter] Yeoju City held the '2025 Second Rice Industry Special Zone Committee (hereinafter 'the Committee')' on the 29th of last month at the Eco-friendly Education Center of Yeoju City Agricultural Technology Center.

The Committee, as the nation's only rice industry special zone, performs functions related to the promotion and development of specialized projects to be pursued by Yeoju City, establishment of publicity and marketing strategies, and policy recommendations for revitalizing special zone operations.

The Committee is composed of 32 members spanning various fields, including Vice Mayor Jo Jung-ah as chair, city council members, agricultural cooperative leaders, agricultural organization heads, external experts, and rice-producing farmers.

This meeting, presided over by Vice Mayor Jo, is the fourth held following last year, and the theme of this meeting was selected as 'Development Plans for Yeoju Rice Promotion and Marketing.' The meeting began with a presentation by Kim Dong-hwan, Director of the Agricultural Food New Distribution Research Institute, on rice distribution development strategies in response to changes in distribution environments.

Following this, there was a briefing by Lee Sang-hwi, Center Director of the Yeoju City Agricultural Industry Joint Brand Activation Center, which opened in October last year, on plans to transition the marketing and promotion methods for "Daewang-nim" brand Yeoju rice, and discussions among committee members continued on methods to improve rice packaging materials and differentiation methods in marketing.

Vice Mayor Jo Jung-ah said, "I express gratitude to farmers who are busy with rice planting, which marks the beginning of a year's farming," and added, "I hope many good measures will be derived at this Committee meeting so that 'Daewang-nim' brand Yeoju rice can maintain its reputation as premium rice that consumers trust and seek."