The brand of indigenous chestnut:’Mipung’, a new breed, which means a breeze in Korean.


The chestnut research team at the Korea Forest Research Institute(KFRI) has improved a new breed of indigenous chestnut called ’Mipung’ so it can foster the domestic chestnut industry which has come to crisis because the export to Japan has slowdowned.


The new chestnut is tasty and big in size. It is marketable and suitable for manufacturing as well. What’s more, it can increase its competitiveness internationally and become the top chestnut in the word.


KFRI is planing to distribute the new breed to chestnut farmers from 2008 when registration of the breed is completed. It is expected that it will aid in increasing farmers’ income and strengthening international competitiveness afterwards.


The amount of chestnut export in the mid 90’s reached about 100 million dollars so
chestnut has been the chief item of export in agriculture. However, due to WTO/FTA, its competitiveness in overseas markets is weakening and the domestic chestnut industry is faced with difficulties. Therefore, improvement of a new chestnut breed is needed in order to increase its competitiveness.


In particular, Mipung can replace Korean castanea accounting for 70% of the total chestnut farming area. Owing to its late ripening in the early October, it can have a merit of easy labor supply and avoid marketing in a lump.


The Korea Forest Service is promoting increase in income of chestnut farm households and encouraging people to consume chestnuts more for their health, by noting that chestnut uplifts spirits and is good for stomach so it strengthens stamina according to DongUiBoGam, a very famous Korean medical book, and it contains lots of fibers and vitamin C.






International Cooperation Division
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