Parties must join forces to find viable stabilization measures
Farmers are letting out a long sigh despite two consecutive years of good rice harvests. That's because rice prices continue to decline. As of Sept. 5, the price of a 20-kilogram sack of rice ― when purchased directly from farms ― stood at 41,185 won ($29.70), down 24.8 percent from 54,785 won a year ago. It is the lowest price since March 2018.
A supply glut is blamed for the rice price plunge. While per capita rice consumption has been declining every year, the country's total rice paddy area and output have not decreased that much. Production of rice last year amounted to 3.88 million tons, up 10.7 percent from 2020, and this year's crop yield is also expected to be good. The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation has set this year's rice production at 3.79 million tons to 3.85 million tons.
Under the so-called "market isolation" measure, which aims to help farmers by buying overproduced rice, the government bought 370,000 tons of rice this year at a cost of 900 billion won. But the measure failed to shore up rice prices because it missed the timing.
On Sept. 15, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) passed an amendment to the Grain Management Act at a subcommittee meeting of the National Assembly's Agriculture Committee to make it mandatory for the government to buy rice, without consent from the ruling People Power Party (PPP). But the liberal party's unilateral action is seen as a populist move aimed at framing the PPP as neglecting the plight of rice farmers and might aggravate the rice overproduction problem.
What's needed first is to reduce the country's rice cultivation area in accordance with the decrease in rice consumption. No less important is ensuring farmers proper income for the stable production of rice, the staple grain. The rice issue must not be the object of political wrangling. The ruling and opposition parties should join forces to help the government find viable stabilization measures.
Farmers are letting out a long sigh despite two consecutive years of good rice harvests. That's because rice prices continue to decline. As of Sept. 5, the price of a 20-kilogram sack of rice ― when purchased directly from farms ― stood at 41,185 won ($29.70), down 24.8 percent from 54,785 won a year ago. It is the lowest price since March 2018.
A supply glut is blamed for the rice price plunge. While per capita rice consumption has been declining every year, the country's total rice paddy area and output have not decreased that much. Production of rice last year amounted to 3.88 million tons, up 10.7 percent from 2020, and this year's crop yield is also expected to be good. The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation has set this year's rice production at 3.79 million tons to 3.85 million tons.
Under the so-called "market isolation" measure, which aims to help farmers by buying overproduced rice, the government bought 370,000 tons of rice this year at a cost of 900 billion won. But the measure failed to shore up rice prices because it missed the timing.
On Sept. 15, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) passed an amendment to the Grain Management Act at a subcommittee meeting of the National Assembly's Agriculture Committee to make it mandatory for the government to buy rice, without consent from the ruling People Power Party (PPP). But the liberal party's unilateral action is seen as a populist move aimed at framing the PPP as neglecting the plight of rice farmers and might aggravate the rice overproduction problem.
What's needed first is to reduce the country's rice cultivation area in accordance with the decrease in rice consumption. No less important is ensuring farmers proper income for the stable production of rice, the staple grain. The rice issue must not be the object of political wrangling. The ruling and opposition parties should join forces to help the government find viable stabilization measures.
