Statistics Korea says that people over 65 crossed 20% of the population last year. Low birth rate has kept on marching while ageing deepens causing labor shortage and welfare budget increase. Things get worse in rural ares than cities. The Hamyang Small but Strong Agricultural Cooperative set sail to take part in solving these problems by fostering future farmers.

Small but strong farmers

The Rural Development Administration has run programs to promote small but strong farmers since 2011. Small but strong farmers should have ability to manage the farming autonomously and innovatively in the scale of family business. The number of these farmers in South Gyeongsang Province is around 12,600 of 43 autonomous groups achieving income by 10.6% and raising management capability by 18.5%. Among the groups, the Hamyang Small but Strong Agricultural Cooperative has 440 members. Cooperative president Jo Yang-ho says “We promote competitive and autonomous management skill and share helpful information. Productivity of agriculture is stagnated and the market share is shrinking due to import and climate change. An answer can be a small but strong family farming business. For this, we help them manage their business efficiently and effectively.”

▲ Hamyang Small but Strong Agricultural Cooperative / President Jo Yang-ho

Promoting pride of farmers

Jo went through various jobs including physical education teacher and publisher after majoring in judo. Back home in 2019 to Hamyang, he devoted himself in agriculture with fellow farmers in the local. “Finding sales channels is as important as farming. Direct sales is one way and online and social media sales another. What is means is that individual farmers can sell their products through their own sales channels by using the most of online platforms” says Jo. Jo also emphasizes the need of communal processing facilities. “This can the production, processing and sales easier and simpler. Another fact is that if we don’t have no production facilities, we cannot register trade marks. We are also currently working on smart farm where we can collect data for analysis so that farmers can have more efficient production and sales. In other words, individual farmers should be multi-player from production and production to marketing and sales.”