▲ Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

[Global Economic Times] National Seed Resources (Acting Director Baek Woon-hwal) awarded Seedpia's rice 'Golden Queen 3' for the Presidential Award at the '2024 20th Korea Excellent Variety Awards' and Nongwoo Bio's pepper for the Prime Minister's Award. 'NW Golden' and cabbage 'Frozen' were selected for the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Award with a total of 8 items, including 5 points including poinsettia 'Flame' from the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science.

In this year's competition, a review committee composed entirely of external experts evaluated a total of 40 varieties submitted in 6 fields, including vegetables, fruit trees, flowers, and exports, on marketability, technology improvement, quality completeness, and seed export potential, and then selected them as seed industry leaders. The final eight varieties were selected through a comprehensive review of their contribution to development, breeding difficulty, and consumer preference.

The rice plant 'Golden Queen No. 3', which received the President's Award, was highly praised for its success in commercialization as the first aromatic variety developed by the private sector, and the cabbage 'Frozen', which received the Prime Minister's Award, is a variety that accounts for 66% of the market share of early winter cabbage. It was evaluated as a variety with high satisfaction among farmers and distributors, and in the export field, 'Double UN Golden', a sweet pepper customized for Central and South America, was highly evaluated as a leading export variety, occupying 35% of the pepper market in the Dominican Republic.

The awards ceremony will be held in conjunction with the opening ceremony of the 'International Seed Expo' held in Gimje, Jeollabuk-do on October 16, and the prize money will be 50 million won for the President, 30 million won for the Prime Minister, and 10 million won for the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (5 million won for public servant training varieties). ) is awarded.

Kang Seung-gyu, head of the Seed Industry Support Division of the National Seed Resources, said, “The Korea Excellent Variety Awards awarded 149 varieties from 2005 to 2023, and we will support the winning varieties to promote their exports through exhibitions at international fairs and other activities, and we will continue to actively promote new excellent varieties.” “We will discover and expand the breeding base and exports,” he said.

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