CHUNGNAM — Chungnam Province is moving full steam ahead with a project to build a general-purpose water supply system for rice paddies in the Cheongnam District of Cheongyang County.

The province announced on the 14th that it has approved the implementation plan for the general-purpose rice paddy water supply system construction project in the Cheongnam District, spanning 10 ri (villages) across Cheongnam-myeon and Jangpyeong-myeon, Cheongyang County, as established by the county.

This initiative is the nation's first implementation plan approved under the general-purpose rice paddy project supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA). A total of 47.2 billion KRW will be poured into the Cheongnam District project to establish a reliable water supply system utilizing Geumgang River water for 677.6 hectares of agricultural land.

The core objective is to upgrade the conventional rice-centric agricultural water supply system so that it can also be utilized for cultivating horticultural crops such as tomatoes, watermelons, and melons. Through this, the project aims to induce the grouping of greenhouse facilities, expand cultivation areas, improve the quality of horticultural crops, and boost farm household incomes.

To achieve this, pumping stations, water purification facilities, booster stations, and water pipelines (totaling 60.3 km in length) will be installed to intake and purify water from the Geumgang River and supply it to the necessary agricultural lands.

In addition, sedimentation and filtration facilities will be introduced into the water purification system to manage agricultural water quality and establish a stable, measurement-based water supply framework.

Once the project is completed, it is expected to generate significant income growth driven by improved horticultural crop quality and expanded facility cultivation.

The province forecasts that farm household income will increase by about 2 million KRW, rising from 18 million KRW to 20 million KRW per hectare, resulting in a total annual income increase effect reaching 1.5 billion KRW.

Following its selection as a basic survey district by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in 2023, the Cheongnam District project has gone through basic plan approval and detailed design. With this implementation plan approval, follow-up procedures such as bidding for construction will proceed, targeting completion by 2031.

Lee Seung-han, Director of the Agriculture and Livestock Bureau of the province, stated, "The Cheongnam District is the nation's first general-purpose paddy project to expand the rice-centered agricultural water supply system to horticultural crops. We will ensure the project proceeds without a hitch to stably supply clean Geumgang River water, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of facility horticulture in the Cheongyang region and leading to increased farm household incomes."

Meanwhile, starting with the Cheongnam District, general-purpose paddy projects are being pursued sequentially around the Geumgang River, including the Buyeo and Nonsan Seongdong districts. The total planned scale covers 2,082.4 hectares with a total project cost of 154.9 billion KRW.

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