(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Han Ju-hong = The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 29th that it has decided to continue supplying the government-recommended rice variety "Shindongjin" until 2027. Until now, the government has been cultivating a new variety, "Shindongjin1," to replace the Shindongjin variety and has been considering a plan to discontinue the supply of the government-recommended Shindongjin variety starting in 2027. This measure was taken due to the occurrence of large-scale pest damage in the Shindongjin variety in 2021, and because the yield per unit area of the Shindongjin variety is high, it does not align with the government's appropriate rice production policy direction, raising the need for a variety change. However, in discussions with the Rural Development Administration, the National Institute of Crop Science, and local governments, it was noted that there is still a high demand among farmers for the supply of the government-recommended Shindongjin variety, and that more time is needed for the Shindongjin1 variety to be stably established in the field. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs explained that, reflecting these opinions, it has decided to continue supplying the Shindongjin variety as a government-recommended variety until 2027, and not to exclude the Shindongjin variety from the list of rice varieties purchased for public reserves. Byeon Sang-moon, the Director of Food Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, stated, "This decision was made by comprehensively considering the demands of farmers and the readiness of Shindongjin1." He also urged local governments to make efforts to diversify varieties, such as by promoting Shindongjin1, which has stronger resistance to disasters, due to the decreasing cultivation safety of Shindongjin caused by climate change. juhong@yna.co.kr(continued)