(Seocheon=Yonhap News) Reporter Jeong Yun-deok = On the 26th, Seocheon City in South Chungcheong Province announced plans to increase the cultivation area of "Hyangjinju," a medium-grain aromatic rice developed by the South Chungcheong Agricultural Technology Institute, to 2,000 hectares next year, and gradually expand it to 3,000 hectares.
Currently, Hyangjinju is cultivated on 1,000 hectares.
Hyangjinju has been recognized for its quality overseas, with 102 tons (317 million won) exported to the Netherlands in the past three years.
Seocheon City plans to strengthen the competitiveness of Hyangjinju by educating contract farmers on technology starting next year and intensifying quality management.
Seocheon City is developing the premium rice brand "Haetnim Hyangmi" for delivery to department stores and is also opening up the institutional catering market using the "Jikimi" variety, which has excellent stickiness.
Park Jong-sin, head of the Technology Dissemination Division at the Agricultural Technology Center, said, "We will make every effort to develop Seocheon into a central hub for premium rice production."
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