Research Reports
An Analysis of Current Problems Facing Agricultural Cold Storage Facilities
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AuthorCho, Myungki
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Publication Date2003.12.01
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Original
An Analysis of Current Problems Facing Agricultural Cold Storage Facilities
As agricultural products are living organisms, preserving them in a fresh and safe condition is not simple. Demand and supply are also unstable depending on season and weather. Especially, there is a difficulty in storing agricultural products due to increase of materials during harvest period. It makes cold storage an efficient management tool of agricultural products.
This study examined policy alternatives for improving regional marketing of agricultural products by analyzing currents situations and problems. The results of analysis are as follows. First, there were 9,833 cold-storage facilities in 2002. Jeonnam province had 2,423(24.5%) cold-storage facilities that were highest across nation. Individual farms owned 81.5%. By size, 31～150m2(10～45 pyung) facilities accounted for 55.6%.
Second, total area of cold-storage facilities was 349,085 pyeong in 2002. Jeonnam recorded the highest 22.9%. And individual farm had 146,712 pyeong (42.0%).
Third, average annual working days in 2002 were 171 days. Gyeonggi province showed 186 days which is highest among regions and private storage firms used 232 days on average. Also, the bigger the size, the longer the working days become.
Fourth, total amount of storage in 2002 was 3,232 thousand ton, 336 ton by each facility on average, and individual farms handled 40.4%. The average amount handled by cooperative-owned facilities was 2,274 ton that was much larger than individuals. For items, the amount of fruits and vegetables were increasing steadily. In particular, flowers, special crops, and forest products rapidly increased.
Fifth, average operation ratio of cold storage facilities based on working days was 48.2% in 2000, and 46.9% in 2002. The survey for 161 facilities in 2003 indicated 52.9%, and the case study for 8 places showed 77.5%.
Sixth, average operation ratio of cold storage facilities based on handled amount was 37.7% in the survey and 50.5% in the case study.
The efficient policy alternatives for cold storage facilities can be suggested as below. First, regional cold storage facilities for agricultural products had to be large scale so that mending present facilities is required. The old facilities could be closed or proper size facilities need to be built in regional main producing areas.
Second, with cold storage facilities, the equipment like pre-cold system and cold-storage car, grading, packing, and processing equipment have to be installed and modernized.
Third, to raise operation ratio of cold-storage facilities, the facilities have to be utilized in consideration of time, item and technology by region, facility, and operating body.
Fourth, to prevent overlapping investments, the enterprises associated government agencies should be unified. It would also strengthen connection among regions.
Fifth, the insolvent facilities sponsored by the government should be utilized based on working rules that make facility leasing, transfer, acquisition and exchange possible.
Sixth, to make exact and reliable statistics for cold-storage facilities, the sample selection by region, operating body, item, and size would be better than current total population survey. Also the should body examination be run as an independent organization instead of being controlled by regional government.
Lastly, to build consumers' in cold-stored products, continuous PR, the development of item-specific trust consumer preference enhancement regional situation improvement and experts guide for equipment and management would be necessary.
Researchers: Cho Myung-Ki
E-mail Address: chomk@krei.re.kr
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