By Ryu Chang-gi
The powerful typhoon Bolaven, which ripped through the Korean Peninsula late last month, devastated the small central western city of Yesan, home to many orchards.
Apple farmers were the hardest hit. Amid despair, they were relieved as a communitybased initiative to help poor farmers has borne fruit.
Nearly 1,500 households there make their living by selling apples. After strong winds and torrential rains hit their farms, however, they suffered severe income loss as fruits fell off the trees and rotted.
Nearly half of their income was estimated to be lost, according to the city government. They were desperate and helpless.
But hope emerged after the South Chungcheong Province government initiated a campaign to encourage residents to buy fallen apples at lower prices.
Last Monday, more than 18,000 people, such as housewives and local government officials, flocked to the E-mart in Yesan where 3 tons of Apples sold out in an hour.
Under the slogan “cheer farmers up,” the Yesan Apple Agricultural Cooperatives purchased the apples worth 6 million won from farmers and partnered with E-mart to sell them at the retailer.
The campaign was a perfect example illustrating that everybody wins under a public/private partnership.
Some 20 soldiers delivered the crates, collected from farmlands, to the Agricultural Pass Center (APC) and Saemaul (New Village) center from which E-mart collected them.
Farmers benefitted from the initiative as they were able to make up for part of their income loss.
Consumers could then purchase apples for less and also help farmers in financial trouble.
“Demand for fallen apples from housewives is increasing,” Yoon Sae-gu, director of the APC, told The Korea Times.
According to the local government, the damage by Bolaven among apple farmers in the city is nearly 300 billion won.
“The income earned from the fallen apple campaign was just 6 million won, a tiny amount compared with the entire damage,” Kim Tae-woo, an officer of National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF), said.
“But farmers were truly grateful and said they were encouraged to recover from Bolaven because they felt that they were not alone as the entire community tried to help them out.” Kim said each household earns a net annual income of 65 million won by selling apples.
But half of that income was gone after Bolaven, he said. Yoon, an expert for the distribution of apples since 2008, said the community-based campaign helped farmers overcome their pain.