◀ Again ▶
Hundreds of tons of rice seeds stored at the National Seed Institute have been confirmed to have been damaged by mold.
More than 10% of the rice seeds to be sown in the Honam granary area were found to be damaged.
An emergency has been declared for the next rice planting season and there are fears that the rice supply and demand situation will be affected.
Journalist Jo Soo-young broke the story exclusively.
◀ Report ▶
This is the Jeonbuk branch of National Seed Resources located in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do.
Each silo, or warehouse, stores hundreds of tons of major crop seeds for distribution to farmers.
However, in December last year, an unknown fungus was discovered in rice seeds stored in a silo.
[국립종자원 전북지원 관계자(음성변조)]
“Did it happen there (inside the silo)? It’s really difficult for us to give a definitive answer. Since we have a lot of volumes right now…”
The damaged rice seeds are Shindongjin seeds, and the quantity alone exceeds 300 tons.
National Seed Resources estimates that it is a type of “mushroom.”
[정남진 교수/전북대학교 작물생명과학과]
“I’m talking about the ‘mushrooms’ we know. They are unlikely to form when the seeds are completely dry.”
This is an official document distributed last week to the agricultural administration departments of 14 cities and counties in Jeonbuk.
It says national seed resources should prepare for disruption of supply of a significant amount of rice seed this year.
13% of the 2,200 tons of rice seeds that will be supplied to Jeonbuk this year, or about 7,100 hectares of agricultural land, are expected to be damaged.
However, National Seed Resources was unable to determine the cause of the accident even two months after it occurred.
[국립종자원 전북지원 관계자(음성변조)]
“He is alive. I don’t know what the reason is. Since he is affected so much, I wonder if there will be a problem (compared to previous years)…”
National Seed Resource’s position is that the impact will not be significant because alternative varieties exist, but because most alternative varieties are not popular with farmers or have not been proven to be marketable, anxiety over supply and Rice demand and farmers’ reaction seem inevitable.
I’m Jo Soo-young from MBC News.
Video Coverage: Jin Seong-min (Jeonju)
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