By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter

South Korea aims to become one of the world's 10 biggest exporters of farm produce by 2020.

In a decade-long master plan released Wednesday, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries aims to record $30 billion in exports of domestic products within a decade, more than six-fold from $4.8 billion in 2008, when Korea was placed 41st.

Globalization of the food industry, including the promotion of Korean cuisine, or ``hansik,'' is one of the five core missions to establish sustainable growth for farming and fishing related businesses.

If the plan is carried out smoothly, the food industry will reach 260 trillion won ($225.1 billion) in sales in 2020, the ministry said. For that purpose, investment will be expanded for research and development to raise food production and processing technology to the level of most advanced countries, according to the plan.

To attain the target, the ministry plans to facilitate at least 10 food companies that can export more than $500 million per year by benchmarking multinational food giants.

It also said the national food cluster under construction in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, will be fostered to be an Asian food hub that creates 10 trillion won in sales and 100,000 jobs.

In the promotion of hansik, the government expects the number of overseas Korean restaurants to grow to 50,000 in 2020, soaring from about 10,000 in 2008.

Other than the food industry, several new businesses will be fostered as a new growth engine, including seed and bug industries.

The market for various species of insects, with purposes ranging from those for sustainable agriculture to pets, foods and ingredients in dietary supplements and medicines, will grow to 700 billion won in 2020, according to the plan.

The development of seeds will also pick up with the aim of exporting $200 million worth in the next decade.

Seoul also plans to set up an advanced food supply system to better tackle the issue of food security.

A project will be started soon to establish a manual to deal with instability in food grain supply, as well as increase shares of other grains other than rice in the stockpile of government-stored crops.

hckim@koreatimes.co.kr