Ryu Hae-seok (center), director general of South Gyeongsang Province's agricultural policy bureau, Lee Gil-no (left), senior managing director of LG Electronics' management support division, and Ryu Gil-nyeon, head of South Gyeongsang Nonghyup, sign a cooperation MOU on Tuesday. [South Gyeongsang Province]
Ryu Hae-seok (center), director general of South Gyeongsang Province's agricultural policy bureau, Lee Gil-no (left), senior managing director of LG Electronics' management support division, and Ryu Gil-nyeon, head of South Gyeongsang Nonghyup, sign a cooperation MOU on Tuesday. [South Gyeongsang Province]

South Gyeongsang Province, LG Electronics and South Gyeongsang Nonghyup have joined forces to help onion farmers struggling with falling prices and sluggish demand.

The three parties signed a cooperation MOU on Tuesday at the South Gyeongsang Nonghyup headquarters in Changwon, pledging to promote consumption of local agricultural products and support the regional economy. The signing was attended by Ryu Hae-seok, director general of South Gyeongsang Province's agricultural policy bureau; Lee Gil-no, senior managing director of LG Electronics' management support division; and Ryu Gil-nyeon, head of South Gyeongsang Nonghyup.

The agreement aims to ease the financial burden on onion farmers hit by recent price declines and weakening consumption, while stimulating demand for local produce. Under the MOU, LG Electronics will purchase 28.5 million won ($19,200) worth of onion juice and 1.5 million won worth of onion-flavored ramyun — totaling 30 million won in processed onion products from South Gyeongsang Province — through in-house employee purchases and other channels. Of that total, 10 million won worth of onion juice will be donated to people vulnerable to extreme heat.

South Gyeongsang Province will handle administrative support for the project and identify agricultural products to target for consumption promotion. South Gyeongsang Nonghyup will supply high-quality produce and manage operations.

"This is a regional cooperation model where businesses, government and Nonghyup pool their efforts to ease the hardships facing farmers," Ryu said. "We will continue to expand consumption promotion policies, focusing on agricultural products that have difficulty securing sales channels."


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