Project Narrative

In a country where international trade exchanges are developing quickly, developing and promoting a local and sustainable food directly from producers is a major issue to ensure food sovereignty of Korean people. The project is led by small-scale organic fruit farmers in Chungju. Majority of the farms are family run, and characterized by small-scale land areas (less than 2 has). Farmers are willing to plant a great diversity of fruit trees in combination with their cash crops: apricot, blueberries, apples, pears, grapes… to diversify their production and incomes. CONTEXT The conditions of rural communities are difficult and particularly vulnerable to food security. South Korea imports more than 90% of its food from overseas. Small-scale organic fruit farmers in Chungju gathered to create the Jang An cooperative and develop agroforestry models, promote a democratic local food system and improve food sovereignty in South Korea.