On the morning of September 1, as I arrived at Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, one of the largest breadbaskets in the north central region of Korea, I was greeted by a golden field of yellow rice. However, the faces of farmers who were waiting for the harvest were not cheerful.

“We're going to plow up the rice we've grown so hard,” said one of the farmers. ”If it goes like this, the rice production base will all collapse."

A long sigh broke out from the mouths of farmers who gathered in groups in front of the rice processing plant to discuss harvest plans and purchase prices. This is because rice prices are plummeting day by day.
On this day, a farmer in his 60s, who was preparing for harvest in a rice paddy in Dongsong-eup, Cheorwon-gun, complained, "If the national average rice price continues to fall, the price of high-quality Odae rice produced in the Cheorwon Plain will inevitably falter."

According to Statistics Korea's national statistics portal, the price of rice of the producing area was 176,628 won per 80 kilogram as of August 25,, down 10.33 percent from 196,980 won on-year. It was 17.96 percent lower than the price of 217,752 won on October 5 last year, when the harvest season began. The rice price of the producing area has been falling for 10 consecutive months since October 5 last year.

Rice farmers are demanding the government come up with measures as the rice price of the producing area, which remained at 200,000 won until the beginning of this year, fell to 170,000 won last month after reaching 180,000 won in May.

The Cheorwon-gun Farmers' Association and local farmers' organizations have recently hung banners with phrases such as “Guarantee rice prices” and “Stop rice imports, the main culprit of the plunge in rice prices,” in the local area.

“The price of rice has plummeted and farmers are being pushed to the brink, but the government has rejected amendments to the Rice Management Act to guarantee fair prices and continues to import more than 10 percent of the country's rice production every year to drive down prices,” said the the Cheorwon-gun Farmers' Association. Last year, Korea produced 3.719 million tons of rice. The government has been mandatorily importing 408,700 tons of rice annually since opening the rice market in 2015.

As the price of rice fell amid rising costs of essential agricultural commodities, members of the Dongsong branch of the Cheorwon-gun Farmers' Association staged a relay hunger strike for 10 days starting on August 20 at a concert hall next to the Dongsong Agricultural Cooperative Federation. On August 30, they plowed up rice growing in 3,300 square meters of paddy fields near the rice processing plant, demanding “guarantee of proper rice prices.”

“Considering the rising production costs, interest on loans, and land rent, there is little left," said Kim Yong-bin, a 61-year-old farmer.

“The price of rice needs to reach 260,000 to 300,000 won to ensure farmers' incomes and maintain the production base, but the government is only repeating the measures, which are like discharging one's urine on one's frozen feet, only saying ‘rice consumption is decreasing,’” he said.

As the price of rice continued to fall, the government decided to buy and stockpile 450,000 tons of rice this year, while announcing the "measures to stabilize rice prices during the harvest season", which was usually announced in mid-October, a month earlier. It is also planning to consume an additional 100,000 tons of rice through promotions at agricultural cooperatives.

Lee Kwang-hwi (65), the head of the Dongsong Branch of the Cheorwon-gun Farmers' Association, said, "After completing the harvest, we will resume the relay hunger strike from early October in consultation with members."