Production Strategy of Rice under WTO System -Farming Size Expansion Policy-

WTO 체제하의 쌀 생산전략 -영농규모화사업을 중심으로-

In recent years, domestic market environment of rice production is confronted with the problems of excessive production and decrease in per capita consumption, resulting in steady decline of domestic rice price. Moreover, as new trade negotiations of WTO or FTA are being forwarded, cheap price of imported rice will also make the rice production environment being worse off. One of the possible production strategies to relieve this situation could be expanding farm size, which increases market competitiveness in terms of cost-saving. Since 1990's, one of the main agricultural policies for rice production in Korea has been expanding farm size. This study aims at 1)exploring brief history of Korean government's agricultural policy for expanding farm size, 2)examining economic effect of farming size expansion, and 3)discussing major role of government to promote appropriate programs for rice-farming and producers. Main conclusion suggests that appropriate farming size should be expanded upto at least five hectares per farm, with producers' effort to reduce farming costs and continuous investments on agricultural infrastructures including irrigation systems, etc. Continuous government's investment on operation and maintenance on water facility is also one of the important factors in expanding farm size.