Jangsu-guen is equipped with industrial structure that focuses on agriculture. While 79% of the regional population is engaged in farming, its proportion in rice farming is lacking due to the geomorphic characteristics of its mountainous area. During the last decade, the province made quite an achievement with fostering strategy of several products, in its vulnerable regional agricultural structure, such as the Korean native cattle, apples, and fruit of schizandra in order to increase agriculture income.
Despite the recent performance, the local farming still faces a tough challenge. Now is the time to discover new products besides the Korean native cattle and apples, which have led the development of regional farming. The local farming of Jangsu-guen is facing problems of discovering items that require significant land productivity, while ensuring a considerable amount of agriculture income. Recently, the growth potential of horticulture facility draws attention in the region. A significant number of returned farmers are expected to be moved into the region; thus, a pending issue for the local government is to provide adequate farming footholds for them. While it is true that horticulture facility can create high value-added income source with great growth potential, securing of finical resources remains an issue as initial investment is huge.
The purpose of this study is to establish initiatives and strategies for growth motivation of local agriculture and promote jobs for local residents and returned farmers by organizing specialized facility for horticulture using natural geographic environment of the region. Specific objectives are; first, review of feasibility with respect to the development projects of horticulture facility cluster; second, various initiatives including introduction horticulture cluster, crop configuration, administration, and management organization; lastly, medium and long-term development plans and expectancy effects as well as strategies to attract funding for horticulture facility cluster.
A result of detailed research showed that the total project cost between 229-276 million won for vegetables and edible herb cultivation in a glass house of a size of 8ha; it appears there is economical feasibility per item under consideration. Taking the risk analysis results of price variation into account regarding raw materials and product markets, the result demonstrates that young-leave vegetables, paprika, and lettuce have high reliability. In addition, we can expect a net margin of 30 million won average per year based on a 1,000 pyeong land size, assuming funding at 3% interest rate concerning the profitability of farmers who participate in the high-tech horticulture facility industry.
Horticultural facility management and administration, the form of a corporate body, provides a three sector methods where Jangsu-guen and rural households pool their resources in which Jangsu-guen rents land and organizes private corporations to build and manage glass houses – the method has been analyzed to have high rationality. Moreover, in relation to the promotion strategies regarding the composition of horticulture facility cluster, it appears to be desirable to hire professional managers, regardless of legal forms of a horticulture facility management organization.




Researchers: Jeong-Seop Kim, Joo-Nyung Heo and Jong-Hyun, Chae

E-mail address: jskkjs@krei.re.kr