Research Reports
Research on Establishing Sustainable Agriculture System in Korea year 1 of 2
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AuthorKim, Changgil
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Publication Date2013.12.30
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Original
Background of Research
This research on sustainable agriculture has analyzed technical and economic aspects of eco-friendly agriculture and low-input agriculture regarding production. From now on, research on sustainable agriculture needs to deal with low-input agriculture regarding production. Furthermore, it needs to take a holistic approach, a social - economic - environmental approach for the establishment of the sustainable agriculture system in order to manage agriculture environment resources, such as soil and water.
Method of Research
First of all, based on agriculture environment change data from the Rural Development Administration (RDA), analysis is conducted about environment change of soil and water resources. Soil-related variables are also analyzed with a regression model based on soil-examination results. With the material balance input-output model, the nutrient balance condition of Korea is examined. And the rice production function is estimated on the basis of rice panel data in order to examine the relationship between productivity and environment effect. Besides, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is applied based on rice production cost data for reviewing compatibility of economic feasibility and environment effect. For the review on sociality of sustainable agriculture, interviews were conducted with households which are pursuing sustainable agriculture. To analyze how much investments in sustainable agriculture contribute to improvement in agriculture added value, the analysis method of a macroecometric model is used.
Research Results and Implications
According to the analysis of soil chemical property, the available phosphoric acid level is 1.3~1.4 times the average proper range in rice paddy and field and 2.1 times higher in orchard and land for protected cultivation as well. When it comes to organic matter, its level is found to be 1.2 times the average proper range in land for protected cultivation. Analysis results show that sustainable agriculture has impacts which are similar to the organic matter content. In terms of agricultural water, water quality of freshwater lakes and reservoirs has continuously deteriorated since 2006. As for nutrient balance, the analysis result of 2012 points that 250,000 tons of total nutrient input (540,000 tons) is found to be an excessive nutrient, serving as an entropy to pollute underground water and surface water. Moreover, the estimation of rice production function indicates that chemical fertilizer and synthetic agricultural pesticide which have adverse impacts on the environment are used excessively. DEA of organic farming the representative type of sustainable agriculture — was conducted, and the result found that the more technically efficient a farm family was, the higher economic feasibility the family could have. According to analysis results about sociality, social relationship is crucial to sociality and needs to be established on the basis of trust and reciprocity. And relationships between farmer and farmer, farmer and non-farmer, and farmer (producer) and consumer should be maintained with trust. Investments have been made to foster sustainable agriculture. Analysis about how much the investments contribute to improving agriculture added value shows that the direct payment program of eco-friendly agriculture is most effective.
Results of these various analyses reflect that with low-input agriculture and decreases in use of chemical fertilizer and livestock excretions, technology development and distribution in sustainable agriculture should be implemented so as to establish the sustainable agriculture system. With this, relevant policies need to be made for social relationship’s expansion and enhancement and for direct income support to eco-friendly households.
Researchers: Chang-Gil Kim, Hak-Kyun Jeong, Yoon-Hyung Kim, Jong-Jin Kim and Dong-Hyun Moon
Research Period: 2013. 1 ～ 2013. 12
E-mail address: changgil@krei.re.kr
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