Republic of Korea

General Information

· Main climates: Temperate Continental, Subtropical Humid

· Total land area of 9 873 000 ha

· Internal renewable water resources: 66.1 km³

· GNP per capita, 1998: PPP$ 13 286

· Main food consumed: Rice, Wheat, Sugar & Honey, Oil & Fat, Alcohol Beverages

· Rice supply, 1999: 141.2 kg paddy/capita/year

Basic Statistics

Producing Zones and Cropping Seasons

The following table shows the rice-harvested areas in different producing zones.

Rice is planted once a year. The following table shows the rice-cropping season in different regions.

In areas, where farmers practice rice-vegetable double cropping regions, rice transplanting usually occurs around late June and early July.

Production Practices

The following figure shows the harvested areas from different rice ecologies during the last five years.

In most areas, no other crop is planted after rice due to short growing season. Rice-Wheat, Rice-Maize and Rice-Vegetable are practised in only limited areas. Mechanical transplanting is the main crop establishment method. Direct seeding started in 1992 and has expanded in the area by 10 percent of total rice lands in 1997 to cut the production costs and overcome the shortage of farm labour. Traditionally, most rice varieties planted in the country belong to japonica sub-species. During the 1970s, series of "Tongil" type varieties named Milang were developed from remote crosses of indica/japonica. The acreage of those Tongil type high yielding varieties increased sharply from 22.9 percent in 1975 to 76.2 percent of total rice acreage in 1978. National breeding program of rice, however, has completely shifted breeding objectives from high-yielding Tongil to better grain quality since the early 1980s by improving yield of high quality japonica rice varieties.

· Known planted varieties

Farmers generally applied high rates of fertilizers and other inputs to rice. The following table shows the responses of rice to fertilizer application.

Constraints and Issues of Sustainable Production

• Low temperatures.

• Blast, sheath blight, bacterial blight and stripe virus.

• Brown plant hopper, white-backed hopper, stem borer, rice leaf folder, water weevil.

• Heavy rain during July-September.

• Salinity in coastal areas is other abiotic constraints.

• Labor shortage and high production costs (about US$ 584/t in 1987-89).

Sustainable rice production in the country depends greatly on the reduction of production cost and the increase in incomes from other uses of rice fields such as eco-tourism, flood control and others.

Research and Development Institutes

· Agricultural Development Corporation P.O. Box 12 171 Anyang Phone: 525909 Telex: KOADC 24890

· Cheolweon Experiment Farm Jangheung-ri, Dong song Myeon, Cheolweon gun 250 Gangweon do

· Honam Crops Experiment Station 81 Songhak-dong, Iksan 570-080 Jeonbug Phone: (0653) 840-2109 Fax: (0653) 840-2112

· Hungnong Seed Co. Ltd. Woojin Bldg. 1338-20 Seocho-dong, Seocho-ku 137-072 Seoul Phone: (02) 553-0971 Telex: TOPSEED K 22849 Fax: (02) 568-5088

· Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Integrated Government Building 427-760 Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Phone: (02) 503-7244 Fax: (02) 503-2649

· Germplasm Management Division Research Bureau, Rural Development Administration 170 Suweon Phone: (0331) 62101 Telex: 27361 RURDEV

· National Crop Experiment Station 209 Seodun-dong, Gyeonggi-do 441-100 Suwon Phone: (0331) 290-6600 Fax: (0331) 292-4560

· National Office of Seed Production and Distribution Anyang-6-dong, Manan-gu 430-016 Anyang, Gyeonggi Phone: (0343) 462431 Fax: (0343) 481216

· Seoul Seed Company Ltd 736-17 Yeogsam-dong, Kangnam-gu 135-080 Seoul Phone: (02) 569-7011 Fax: (02) 569-5357

· University of Kyung Hee Department of Agronomy, College of Industry Seocheon-ri, Giheung 449-701 Yongin, Gyeonggi Phone: (0331) 280-2602 Fax: (0331) 281-4966

· Yeongnam Crop Experiment Station 1085 Nai-dong, Milyang-gun, Kyeongnam-do 627-130 Milyang-gun Phone: (0527) 501200 Fax: (0527) 503050

· Yeongnam Crops Experiment Station 1083 Naei Dong, Milyang Eur Milyang Gun 605 Gyeongsangnam Do Phone: (0527) 23051

· RDA Gene Bank, Genetic Resources Division Dept. of Bio-Resources, Nat. Agr. Sci. & Tech. Inst. 249 Seodun-dong, Gyeonggi-do 441-707 Suweon Phone: (0331) 292-4250 Fax: (0331) 292-107