A shopper passes by bags of rice at a supermarket in Seoul on Oct. 3, 2022. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s agriculture ministry said Wednesday it will push to reduce the rice paddy area by around 5 percent this year to cut rice production amid falling demand for the staple grain.
The ministry said it plans to reduce the rice cultivation area to 690,000 hectares from last year’s 727,000 hectares — about half the size of the U.S. state of Connecticut — by encouraging farmers to raise wheat, beans and other crops instead of rice.
The move is expected to help ensure stable rice prices.
Last year, the country’s rice output came to 3.76 million tons, and the government spent around 1 trillion won on purchasing around 450,000 tons of rice in an effort to counter prices falling due to overproduction.
Rice is a key staple food for Koreans, but its consumption has been on a steady decline in recent decades due mainly to changes in diet and eating habits.
(Yonhap)
