North Gyeongsang Province announced Thursday that it will conduct an emergency purchase of fallen apples — the most severely affected crop — to help stabilize farm operations following strong winds and hail that struck Andong and Yecheon-gun on Monday.
The province, local governments and Daekyung Apple Horticulture Agricultural Cooperative held emergency consultations and agreed to swiftly purchase the damaged produce from Thursday through Monday.
The emergency purchase is expected to cover around 300 tons, at a price of 12,000 won ($9) per 20-kilogram box. A total of about 180 million won will be committed to fund the effort.
The purchase volume was calculated by applying a 20 percent fallen-fruit rate and an output of 15 tons per hectare to the 91.3 hectares of apple farmland reported damaged so far.
Farmers wishing to participate may collect fallen apples during the designated period and deliver them to purchase sites designated by their respective local governments.
Payment will be settled and disbursed within one week of delivery. In Andong, the designated site is the Daekyung Apple Horticulture Agricultural Cooperative's Andong Agricultural Products Processing Center; in Yecheon-gun, it is the cooperative's Yecheon Apple Retail Center.
Meanwhile, the total area of crop damage from the storm across Andong, Uiseong and Yecheon-gun reached 128.8 hectares. By crop, the breakdown is: apples, 91.3 hectares; soybeans, 20 hectares; peaches, 6.8 hectares; plums, 6 hectares; peppers, 3 hectares; and other crops, 1.7 hectares.
Under government support guidelines, disaster recovery funds are available when hail damage covers 30 or more hectares or wind damage covers 50 or more hectares within a local government area. Pesticide cost support is set at 3.33 million won per hectare for fruit orchards, 2.59 million won for vegetables and 860,000 won for general crops, while replanting support for damaged apple seedlings stands at 17.84 million won per hectare.
North Gyeongsang Province Governor Lee Cheol-woo said he had issued a special directive to prioritize the emergency purchase so that farmers could recover as quickly as possible, noting that the processing value of damaged apples deteriorates with time. "We will continue to do our utmost to support swift damage recovery and farm management stability," he added.
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