The Rural Development Administration (RDA) is sharing K-agriculture technology and experiences it accumulated for the past 60 years with developing countries in Asia, Africa, Central America and South America.
RDA has set up Korea Program on International Agriculture (KOPIA), a bilateral ODA program in the field of agricultural technology, in 22 countries.
The administration has built and operated the Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative for Asian, Africa and Latin America Countries (3FACIs), a consultative body involving 13 Asian countries, 12 Central and South American countries and 23 African countries.
KOPIA and 3FACIs have become public technology innovation platforms designed to develop and spread technologies corresponding to each country’s conditions.
Several countries are requesting their participation in overseas agriculture technology assistant projects on the back of the spread of K-agriculture technology for the development of the global agriculture and addressing grain shortages.
KOPIA and 3FACIs have been implementing joint projects to solve global grain issues in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) and World Bank (WB). There have been many achievements from the joint projects.
The new rice variety, dubbed “ISRIZT,” developed and spread to Africa by the Rural Development Administration (RDA) under the Africa Rice Development Partnership. (Photos: RDA)
In 2018, KOPIA Cambodia Center provided support to a Cambodian research institute’ development and registration of a first corn variety, dubbed “Cambodia Hybrid Maize 01 (CHMO1).”
CHMO1 has produced more crops than conventional corn varieties and its seed prices are 30 percent cheaper than major exporters such as the United States and Thailand.
KOPIA has transferred K-agriculture technology to Ecuador. KOPIA has spread a system to produce and supply disease-free seed potatoes and technologies designed to disinfect diseases and pests for small farmers and promote eco-friendly cultivation and post-harvest management.
Ecuadoran participants of the program have seen their tomato production and farming household incomes surge a maximum 40 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
KOPIA Ecuador Center was honored with a prize in recognition for its contribution to beating poverty by Pacto Global Red Ecuador (PGRE) in 2020.
RDA and FAO jointly produced a soil organic carbon map in cooperation with the Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (AFACI).
About 50 soil experts from 14 Asian member countries had joined forces in setting the required amounts of carbon in soil to mitigate climate change digitalizing related information since 2019.
RDA inaugurated the Korea-Africa Food & Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (KAFACI), an intergovernmental and multilateral cooperation body aiming to improve food production, achieve sustainable agriculture and enhance extension services in African countries through knowledge and information sharing on agricultural technologies.
RDA has made efforts to solve grain security issues by implementing a partnership to develop rice varieties with Africa under the initiative.
Seven member countries of the Korea-Latin America Food & Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (KoLFACI), an intergovernmental cooperation body, participated in a project to build the Central and South American soil environment information system in 2017.
Under the project, Colombia became the first Central and South American country to build the digital soil environment information system (IRAKA).
Soil properties of the Colombian Cundiboyacense high plateau, collected and analyzed scientifically is supplied to the general public via a website. Research outcomes of the IRAKA was published in the global academic journal (CATENA).
RDA Administrator Park Byung-hong said, “We’ll ramp up technology cooperation to support the sustainable development of the international community and solve common issues in the global agricultural sector in cooperation with international cooperation partnership countries.”
