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Part of the Article 1 Rice Is Life and Culture of Koreans It has been already two months since I was appointed the Administrator of the Rural Development Administration (RDA). Despite the difficult agriculture environment in Korea as well as around the world, I will do my best to develop and promote the welfare of farmers, who depend on rice for their survival. As has been in the last 50 years, the RDA will be the growth power for agriculture in the future. ... These days, the importance of rice is very significant since it is the main meal for more than half of world citizens. Especially, the value of rice is becoming more and more important in poor countries from Asia and Africa ... In Korea, rice has been the backbone of its history. Rice has more values to it than just as being food. It is our life, culture and history. ... Regardless of their size, our rice farms bear important symbols of our national pride. Despite the meager natural resources we have, we made it through the difficult years of more than three decades. ... RDA aims at solving problems related to agriculture, the flourishing of farming business, expanding the potential of national growth through agriculture and nurturing manpower of high capacity in order to achieve balanced development of the farming industry. ... In celebration of the International Year of Rice 2004, I hope with all my heart that the conference here in Korea will inspire and motivate each nation towards increasing public awareness on issues regarding rice and consolidate their efforts into the contributions to food security, better nutrition, poverty alleviation, livelihood improvement, and promoting and providing support sustainable development of rice and rice-based production system around the world. This is indeed a great opportunity for you to review the latest rice production technologies in international society and chart the direction of the rice industry in the years ahead. |
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My summary
 This article is a summary of a speech made by the administrator of the Rural Development Administration of Korea, Son Jeong-soo, at the conference of the International Rice Science Conference in Seoul. 2004 was selected as "the International Year of Rice" by UN. With the slogan, "Rice is Life", Son speaks about the significance of rice in many poor and underdeveloped countries and mentions the desperate situations. Korea was one of those countries in which rice production has been an important farming business and Son also talks about promoting agricultural technologies and thereby contributing to improving the quality of humankind. He concludes his speech by telling the participants that international efforts would be needed on rice issues to support its development throughout the world. |
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Part of the Article 2 The French could teach us a thing or two - Special Report - on food and love - Brief Article - Column The big difference between the French and us is attitude. And nowhere is that more acutely visible than in the issues of food and sex. The British attitude is one of resentment-- "Why should I have to spend my income on food or my time making love when I could be spending it on luxuries?" ... The perversity of this is that the French spend less on good, tasty, local, healthy food than we spend on over-processed, under-nutritious, highly salted, excessively sweetened crap. It is our very desire to pay less for an essential of life that has enabled a market to appear which has stifled innovation and diversity, and created inefficient and bureaucratic systems of distribution. ... I do not believe that the supermarkets are in some sort of cabal or illegal cartel. But I do think that regulation in this country is perverse: we try to reduce risk to zero and apply systems of control that are cost-effective only on a large scale. And I strongly suspect that the decline in teaching young people about food and cooking has enabled such a disastrous situation to develop. ... What can we expect when we do not teach people about the enjoyment that can come from the essentials of life, and when for years we have been told that consumer choice is all about price? We have some hard lessons to learn about food in the UK. The French can tell us a good deal (we produce twice as many varieties of cheese as them, but then make it available only to the rich who patronise exclusive delicatessens). I will truly believe that we have got a grip on the situation when we install a proper kitchen and plant a vegetable and herb garden in every school -- and when we start to take time off for lunch, all of us, to eat properly (and to make love with leisure). |
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My Summary
The attitude on food between the French and British is quite different. The French attitudes towards eating are positive. They love food and are willing to spend their time on it. On the contrary, the British tend to believe that it's a waste of money spending their income on food and some essentials for life. They would rather spend more on luxurious items. This resulted the deterioration of the market in terms of innovation and diversity. In a way, primary producers manufacture more processed food as a result. The author points out that the cost-effective market system without considering the quality of food have brought a negative effect on today's young children in the country. They only get encouraged to buy over-processed, less-nutritious, and pre-processed foods, instead of being taught how to recognize a good potato and cook it. The author emphasizes the importance of having enjoyment that comes from the essentials in life and urges the British to take time off for eating like the French do. |
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