Changes in Farm Economy and Agricultural Mechanization

The economical situation at agricultural industry has been changed rapidly in Korea for the last 40 years. The population in farming area decreased sharply and the labor demand increased dramatically. The portion of the old and women has been increased. The farm size, and farm rural wage have been increased. Those were the driving forces of the mechanization in agricultural industry. The Agricultural Mechanization made the opportunities of off-farm employment and income. To promote the agricultural mechanization, and the welfare of the farming and fishing communities, Korean government was enforced the several laws. From 1972, small-scale power agricultural machinery has been used to replace the manual powers. From 1977, the mechanization of rice farming has been promoted for transplanting and harvesting. Through three consecutive 5-year Farm Mechanization Plans, the mechanization for rice farming has been almost complete. There has been several joint utilization system of agricultural machinery in those plans. Quality and safe produce is very important to consumers and retailers. Also, the market of agricultural products will be opened to other big foreign countries. To satisfy the demands and prepare the market share opening, the post-harvest technologies are very important in Korea. In this article, the achievements and the improvement directions of the Rice Processing Complex and the Agricultural Products Processing Center in Korea were introduced. Agricultural Mechanization Changes in Farm Economy and Agricultural Mechanization During the six consecutive "5-year Economic Development Plan" periods starting from 1962, the Korean economy achieved as much as the economy of the developed nations had achieved during the 150-200 years following the Industrial Revolution. Introduction of foreign capital at the beginning of the Economic Development Plan and export-oriented economic policies brought rapid economic growth, known as compressed economic growth, in a very short period. The rapid economic growth that has occurred during the last 40 years has brought about significant changes in socio-economic conditions pertaining to agriculture. The relative importance of agriculture in Korea's overall economy has dwindled. Rural wages have increased sharply because of rapid decrease in rural population. Farmers' demand for improved welfare has increased. Before 1970, most typical farms in Korea were labor-intensive, small-scale rice farm. This structural property gradually changed in the course of industrialization from 1970. Due to the continuing decrease in farm labor and the rapid rise of rural wages, a remarkable progress of farm mechanization was accomplished. In 20 years, the Korean rice-farming sector achieved as much progress in farm mechanization. Farm mechanization, which substitutes farm machinery for manual or animal labor, is understood to be an improvement in farm management. In addition to the situational changes to the agricultural sector, such as hikes in rural wages caused a shortages of rural workers, reinforced purchasing power, developments in farming technology, increases in off-farm job opportunities, and strong demand for improved welfare, government policies supporting the agricultural machinery industry and distributing farm machines have accelerated agricultural mechanization. Acceleration Factors of Agricultural Mechanization Decreasing Farm Labor In 1960, about 58% of the total population lived in farming areas. As the demand for labor in the off-farm sector was increasing, rural population was decreasing steadily. In 1967 the peak rural population was 16 million. After 1967, rural population decreased by 400 thousand in every year. Consequently, rural population dropped to 10.83 million in 1980, to 6.66 million in 1990, and to 4.03 million in 2000. After 1980, rural population has decreased by more than 3% a year (Table 1). Contrary to rural population, the percentage of old age population has gradually increased since 1960s. The ratio of over 60 years old increased rapidly from 10.5% in 1980, to 17.8% in 1990, and to 33.1% in 2000 (Table 1). A deterioration in the quality of the rural labor force due to aging and the predominance of female workers induced hikes in rural wages. Such a rapid rise in rural wages has had the effect of facilitating farm mechanization in Korea. Enlargement of farm size As rural population decreased, so did the number of farm households from a peak of 2.59 million in 1967. In contrast with 0.1% decrease between 1960 and 1970, the number of farm households annually decreased by 1.8% from 1980 to 1990, and by 2.2% from 1990 to 2000 (Table 2). The decrease in the number of farm households marked the beginning of enlarging farm size and improving farm structure. However, the enlargement of farm size, from 0.9 ha in 1965 to 1.36 ha in 2000, was not enough to make the most of the effect of improvements in the farm structure. Due to the decrease in the number of total farm households, the proportion of farms over 2 ha has been in an upward trend: from 6.7% in 1970 to 6.5%, 7.4%, 12.9%, and 15.0% in 1980, 1990, 1995 and 2000, respectively (Table 2). The increase has been significant as the farm size enlargement project has been steadily carried out since 1990 to reinforce the international competitiveness of domestic rice farming. The increase in large-scale farms over 2 ha has been achieved through the lease and acquisition of plots originally owned by retired farmers who moved into cities or just gave up farming. Without progress in farm mechanization, the farm size enlargement project could not be realized. Table 1. Changes in rural population (Unit: thousand person, %) Year Total population Rural population Over 60 years old Male Female 196