Research Background
Ginseng is highly recognized around the world as a specialty product in Korea. Korea has secured and kept its commanding position as the birthplace of ginseng because of the accumulated technology for cultivation and processing of ginseng, superior efficacy of ginseng, and international credibility and reputation. Since the end of 2000, however, the environment of the domestic ginseng industry has been changing rapidly in terms of its demand, production, distribution, and trade. Nevertheless, the ginseng industry in Korea has not dealt with the changes effectively. In particular, as newly cultivated areas have declined since 2009, there has been growing concern about the collapse of infrastructure of domestic ginseng industry. Therefore, the current status of ginseng industry should be analyzed in depth, and at the same time, the improvement issues should be addressed to prepare for the long-term development of the industry.

Research Method
In order to understand the current status and condition, and the basic statistical data regarding the ginseng industry, this study analyzed the administrative data of local government and the statistical data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Rural Development Administration, local governments of main producing places, and National Agricultural Cooperative Federation. Symposiums with experts in ginseng were hosted to determine the research contents and direction. A total of 490 farmers were surveyed to investigate their current management conditions and difficulties. an Moreover, online survey of 1,000 consumers nationwide was conducted to identify their purchasing and consumption patterns and their perspectives on the ginseng industry and products. In order to investigate the problems of the ginseng industry, the officials were interviewed through business trips to domestic areas. Field trips to China and Hongkong were carried out in preparation for the FTA and for the understanding of export markets.

Research Results and Discussion
The current issues and challenges in each sector of the ginseng industry were drawn from the surveys and analysis of domestic ginseng industry. Based on the results, the development strategies were suggested. The development strategies to increase the competitiveness of the domestic ginseng industry were divided into four areas including cultivation/production, management, distribution of fresh ginseng and products, and export.
With regard to the cultivation/production area, it is required to reinforce the institutional support for shortening the dormancy period of the existing farmland and for securing first planted fields. In order to shorten the dormancy period of the existing farmland, the active support from the government is needed, such as the use of soil sterilization and soil fumigants. The first planted fields should be secured by developing hills and marginal farms of main producing places. In order to secure professional workforce constantly, the personalized support for new participants and farming successors is required.
To improve the management of ginseng farmers, the rationalization of purchase price of ginseng is needed. For example, for the products cultivated under the non-contract cultivation, the fair and transparent pricing system which reflects the supply and demand should be established. Moreover, in order to reduce the production cost for cultivating ginseng, the labor-intensive cultivation process should be replaced with mechanization process to increase productivity.
For the improvement of fresh ginseng distribution, it is required not only to secure the transparency, fairness, and openness of information for the fresh ginseng trade, but also to introduce and operate diverse transaction systems. The efficiency of price formation and product distribution should also be enhanced. In order to establish the reliability of ginseng product distribution, it is required to open the relevant information regarding the standardization of products and to establish the systems for the safety assurance and certification. At the same time, small and medium processing companies and 12 ginseng cooperatives should be organized and cooperate with one another first.
For the export and in preparation for liberalization of ginseng, first of all, the representative brands for export by the producer organizations, based on young ginseng, should be intensively developed and the differentiated strategies should be established as well. In addition, the role of the government should be strengthened to develop and expand the export markets for ginseng. It is also required to use the ongoing FTA between Korea and China strategically and to reach the reasonable conclusion.

Researchers: Chang-Gon Jeon
E-mail address: cgjeon@krei.re.kr