Lee takes over helm of agency supporting marketing for nearly 70 farm clusters


Lee Kyung-soo, president of the National Agro Food and Beverage Cluster Association, stressed that a real change in the local agricultural industry should start from a brand new mindset among CEOs at individual project clusters nationwide.

“CEOs’ mindsets are very important. If cluster CEOs make changes, our farming and fishing villages would change, transforming Korea into an advanced agricultural country,” Lee said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald.

The association was established in 2010 under the leadership of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, with an aim to support production and marketing activities of 67 farmers’ guilds across the nation.

Lee, who started his two-year term as the agency’s second president in June, is also running the Jebba Food & Beverage Corp., a guild of bokbunja growers in Gochang, North Jella Province.

Bokbunja is a type of black raspberry unique to Gochang. An old tradition of cultivating the fruit and making liquor with it is still maintained in the village, some 290 kilometers south of Seoul, leading to the establishment of the project cluster. 

Jebba, consisting of bokbunja farmers, researchers, companies and county officials, also conducts a bokbunja festival and other tourist programs, with around 100,000 people visiting the county every year to taste the fruit and enjoy tourist attractions.

“Clusters have complained of difficulties marketing their products individually. After the settlement period over the past two years, it is a time for the association to seek ways to support their activities more aggressively,” he said.

According to Lee, the local agricultural industry is facing an unprecedented crisis as Korea has started discussions on free trade pacts with neighboring China and Japan following the latest ones with the U.S. and EU.

On the other hand, he said, Korea has been given a good opportunity to grow into an advanced agricultural country by transferring its focus from traditional rice farming to other specialized products. And he believes the association will lead the change.

“We cannot take an edge with grain items that are cultivated in many countries. We need to turn eyes to products unique to Korea such as the dried persimmons and figs that are already gaining positive reviews in overseas markets,” he said.

“What made Denmark become the most representative diary country in the world was the carefully organized farmers’ guilds and the effective production system,” he said, stressing the role of association in educating CEOs for their better management.

Since 2003 when he retired as vice president of the Korea International Cooperation Agency, a state-run body supporting international aid activities, Lee has continued his career running a global development consulting group and a shipbuilding company.

He believes his experiences transcending both government and private sectors would be helpful to leading the association and communicating between government officials and cluster CEOs with different backgrounds.

“I want to prevent our farming and fishing villages from being isolated to the country side. It will be great if I can contribute to developing the nation’s agricultural industry to the stage of other advanced countries,” he said.

Lee pledged to elevate the association’s status to the level of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, or Nonghyup, by 2014 when his official term expires.

By Lee Ji-yoon  (jylee@heraldcorp.com)