Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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A
ND VIJENDRA K. BOKEN
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South Korea (hereinafter referred to as Korea) lies in the middle latitudes
of the Northern Hemisphere. Until the 1960s, Korea was a typical agrar-
ian country, with agriculture generating roughly half of its gross national
product (GNP) and employing more than half of the labor force. Agricul-
ture still plays an important role in the Korean national economy, but it
accounts for a relatively much lower share of the GNP (5.3% in 1997)
and engages much less of the population (11.0%). The agricultural share
of the national economy is declining continuously. Farms in Korea, as in
many other Asian countries, have traditionally been small. Average farm
size has been growing slowly from 0.86 ha in 1960 to 1.39 ha in 2001,
despite a significant reduction in the average number of persons per house-
hold engaged in farming—from 6.20 persons to 2.91 persons. As a result,
agriculture has become more intensive.
The country has four distinct seasons: summer, fall, winter, and spring.
Summer and winter have a longer duration than spring or fall. The summer
rainy season (
Changma
) in the Korean Peninsula includes the period from
late June to late July. About three quarters of the annual precipitation falls
during the summer season. The average annual precipitation in Korea is
1,274 mm, which is about 1.3 times the world average (973 mm). The
variation in annual precipitation is larger, with an annual minimum of 784
mm and an annual maximum of 2675 mm in Seoul. Heavy rains fall during
the
Changma
season, which is influenced by monsoons.
The National Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (NIAST)
classified Korea (except Jeju Island) into 19 climate zones (figure 30.1) to
efficiently use agricultural resources for wetland rice production. Among
the 19 zones, zone 14, which is the Southern Charyeong Plain, yields the
best harvest and the most stable rice production. Zones 11 (Yeongnam
Basin), 17 (the northeastern coast), and 18 (the mid-eastern coast) are
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