Korea: K-Rice Belt expansion, strengthening food security

The number of target countries for the ‘K-Rice Belt (Korean-style rice production belt) construction project’ to relieve food shortages in Africa will increase from 10 to 14, and the scope of cooperation will expand to include rural development. Song Mi-ryeong, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, heads of state and agriculture ministers from African countries participated in the ‘2024 Korea-Africa Agricultural Conference’ held in Seoul on the 5th and discussed agricultural cooperation measures. The event was organized on the occasion of the ‘Korea-Africa Summit’ held the previous day. In a joint declaration after the summit, President Yoon Seok-yeol said, “In order to respond to food security, we will expand projects to strengthen food self-sufficiency, such as the K-Rice Belt,” and added, “We will increase the scale of Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects to $10 billion by 2030.” “I will raise it to ,” he said. The K-Rice Belt Project is an ODA project in ...