The Crisis of FORESTRY in South KOREA and Its Future Direction

Abstract

In South Korean society, forestry has been on a continuous decline. Agriculture and forestry are important fields directly connected to the food security of the people. Forestry has many problems including imbalance between rising production and consumption rates, fluctuating prices by the season, poor research pool on growing and biological pest control, temporary petty cultivation facilities, and weaker price competitiveness than Chinese counterparts. Since forest products are not part of the nation's food staple, the demand for forest products is more unstable than agricultural products, which explains why the percentage of forest managers leaving the vocation is higher than that of farmers. This study set out to investigate the current forest management of forest managers and find solutions to the crisis of forest products in South Korea. The subjects include 15 forestry households that collected, processed, and distributed wild herbs and vegetables, mushrooms, and fruits. The survey period spanned about two months from December, 2015 to February, 2017. The in-depth interview covered six major areas including the information of forestry households, information of forest products, methods of collection, methods of processing, methods of distribution, and other particulars. Based on the results of an in-depth interview with 15 forestry households, the study made the following proposals for the development of forestry in the nation: first, they should introduce a village or farming association unit and carry out promotional and marketing strategies in an organized way; second, they should create value added with the development of processed food through talent search and education for their village or farming association organization and government-level support projects based on connections between central and local regions; and lastly, given the recent growing interest in environment-friendly food, they should make efforts to segment food consumers according to their dietary life patterns and understand their preference in order to create a market environment where both forestry businesses and consumers can survive together.