Research Reports
A Agricultural and Rural Development Plan for the Spatial Specialization in the Hwa-Cheon County
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AuthorSong, Miryung
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Publication Date2005.06.01
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Original
The Aim:
The aim of this plan is to conceive a desirable future image of agricultural sectors and rural areas in the Hwa-Cheon County, to map out sectoral development strategies, and to visualize efficient schematics to administer these strategies.
The Goal:
The County suffers from dwindling population and its small size, and from shortage of arable land. While these seems to be unsurmountable obstacles for any rural counties, the County have windows of opportunities for future development only if it will respond to the societal trend, emphasizing eco-friendliness, leisure, and personal and family well-being. Considering its weaknesses and potentials, the future and development strategies must be built upon the over-all goal of environment friendliness. Following this over-all goal, this plan depicts the County as a place for organic farming, for safe crops and produce to consume, for well-preserved, beautiful landscapes, and for first-rated rural tourism.
The Strategies:
For agricultural development, the County must aim at niche markets, encouraging farmers to cultivate specialty crops and produce, such as rye, blueberry, cherry and medicinal herbs, and it must expedite and complete the transition to organic farming. In addition, it must pursue high value-added farming by integrating the processing of local crops and produce and strengthening local distribution channels.
For the development of rural tourism, the County must upgrade and enrich the contents of the existing festivals and programs in order to stay one step ahead of increasing number of competitors. In addition, it should develop major tour programs and hub infrastructure, encourage networking among villages, preserve and improve rural landscapes, and train tour guides (the so-called "Tour Meister") and local personnel.
Finally, in order to overcome the aforementioned obstacles of limited supply of arable lands and dwindling population and therefore farmers, the County must pursue to improve in agricultural infrastructure and production base for multi-purpose use in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner, and infuse farmers, especially females, with entrepreneurship through continuous education and training. In addition, it must set up a support system to attract people returning to farming.
All these strategies must carefully be carried out in connection with programs and projects administered by the central government and the Gang-Won Province. What is required in this process is a common will among the County executive, local officials and residents to address the issues and problems the County faces and to come up with common solutions through cooperation and collaboration.
Researchers: Mi-Ryung Song(mrsong@krei.re.kr),
Seok-Doo Park, Shi-Hyun Park, Ji-Hyun Choi and Min-Jung Choi
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