A herd of cattle rest under fans at a farm in Gimhae, 449 kilometers south of Seoul, on July 14, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The amount of manure generated by livestock farms every year is estimated at more than 50 million tons, most of which is used as compost, the agriculture ministry said Wednesday.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs conducted a complete enumeration survey on the current state of livestock farming last year in collaboration with the Livestock Environmental Management Institute.
The survey showed that the amount of livestock manure generated by livestock farms stood at 57.3 million tons per year, of which pig manure accounted for the largest share at 37.9 percent, followed by Korean premium “hanwoo” cattle and beef cattle at 34.2 percent.
Roughly half of the livestock manure generated is processed directly by livestock farms, while the remaining 47.9 percent is processed through consignment to processing facilities.
Livestock farms turn livestock manure into compost (75.3 percent) and liquid fertilizer (11.7 percent) for use on their farmland.
The ministry plans to carry out a complete enumeration survey once every five years to assess the state of the livestock farming environment.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
