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Review of rice in Korea: current status, future prospects, and comparisons with rice in other countries

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Abstract

Rice has been grown as a staple food in South Korea for several millennia. However, its status has not stayed constant as a result of changes in South Korean culture and government policies. Nevertheless, the preference of South Korean consumers for japonica rice has remained consistent over the known history of the country. Despite having achieved self-sufficiency in rice production in the 1970s, the South Korean rice market faces several challenges, such as declining rice consumption. This brief review provides an overview of the trends and influencing factors of rice production and consumption in South Korea, as well as suggestions for increasing rice consumption and securing rice production in the country.

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Fig. 1

(taken from Kim et al. 2013)

Fig. 2

(taken from Choi et al. 2016, table based on data by the Korean Statistical Information Service)

Fig. 3

(taken from Skorbiansky et al. 2018)

Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

(taken from Choi et al. 2016, based on data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau)

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Grant from the National Institute of Crop Science, the Republic of Korea (Project title: Development of middle-late maturity, high-quality rice cultivars adaptable in southern plains. Detailed Assignment no.: PJ011872012020). I am deeply grateful to the Director of the Rice Breeding Research Team of the National Institute of Food Science and Technology for actively cooperating in writing this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju, Republic of Korea

    O-Young Jeong, Hyeon-Su Park, Man-Kee Baek, Woo-Jae Kim, Geon-Mi Lee, Chang-Min Lee & Jeom-Ho Lee

  2. International Rice Research Institute, Los Baños, Philippines

    Maurene Bombay & Melanie Banzon Ancheta

Authors
  1. O-Young Jeong
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  2. Hyeon-Su Park
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  3. Man-Kee Baek
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  4. Woo-Jae Kim
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  5. Geon-Mi Lee
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  6. Chang-Min Lee
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  7. Maurene Bombay
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  8. Melanie Banzon Ancheta
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  9. Jeom-Ho Lee
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Contributions

OYJ, HYP, MKB, WJK, GML, and JHL: conceived and designed the experiments; OYJ, CML, MB, MBA, and JHL: collected and analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to O-Young Jeong.

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The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be interpreted as a potential conflict of interest.

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Jeong, OY., Park, HS., Baek, MK. et al. Review of rice in Korea: current status, future prospects, and comparisons with rice in other countries. J. Crop Sci. Biotechnol. 24, 1–11 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12892-020-00053-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12892-020-00053-6

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