해외농업개발과 협력의 연계

Abstract

이 보고서는 2009~2011년의 3년에 걸쳐 수행될 「식량안보체계 구축을 위한 해외농업개발과 자원확보 방안」 연구의 2차년도 연구 중 세부과제의 하나로 수행된 연구결과이다. 해외농업개발을 통해 해외에서 식량을 확보하여 국내에 반입함으로써 식량안보체계를 구축하겠다는 것이 이 연구의 일차적인 목표이다. 그러나 해외농업개발은 민간이 추진하는 것이고 사업 초기에는 제반 여건이 갖추어져 있지 않아 적자를 면하기 어려운데다 특히 식량생산의 경우 수익을 창출하기는 더욱 어렵다. 해외농업개발이 민간의 몫이라고는 하지만 식량확보라는 공공적인 성격을 띠고 있을 경우 모든 것을 민간의 책임으로 돌린다면 어느 누구도 투자를 외면할 것이다. 이러한 문제를 해소하기 위해서는 정부의 외교적 지원만으로는 부족하며 적절한 형태의 간접적 지원이 뒤따르지 않으면 안 된다. 대안 중 하나는 국제농업개발 협력과 해외농업개발을 연계시키는 일이다.

This is one of the second year reports of the three-year research entitled 'Overseas Agricultural Development for Food Security', which is led by the Korea Rural Economic Institute. The purpose of the study is to seek an integration strategy between overseas agricultural development and international agricultural cooperation. In addition, this study provides the information on the possibilities of the development for Primorsky, Russia. Regarding the conceptive scope of the international agricultural development, it might include physical and economical access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food as well as establishment for the food security system. In the meantime, it is not recommending policies that plans only to bring in the agricultural resources exploited in overseas. In the early days, the international agricultural development had failed, since there was no appropriate information on the target countries. In the 1990s, however, private and public organizations with various purposes started actively entering into overseas such as Maritime province, Russia, America, and China. Most of them had engaged in the production of agricultural commodities. The legal foundation of the international agricultural development has been "The Overseas Resource Development Act.". However, agriculture has been excluded in the financial support of the Act. Moreover, it has been regulated by the WTO and other international regulations as the resources were brought into Korea, because there has not been a way to provide any type of preferential advantage for the resources. When it comes to emergency situation in foreign countries, there are high possibilities of banning exports the commodities produced in the country. Even though foreign agricultural developments are non-governmental, when it comes to food security, no one will invest if all the responsibilities go to the people. To solve this problem, not only the government's diplomatic support is needed, but also indirect supports are needed. One of the alternatives is to connect international agricultural development cooperation and foreign agricultural development. International agricultural development cooperation is a government supported agricultural development in developing countries. And when foreign agricultural development areas match, businesses that invest in foreign agricultural development can receive indirect benefits. Therefore, the international agricultural development has to aim at various purposes such as establishment of globalization, new development motivations, and the procurement of overseas agricultural resources. Constructing private and public cooperation systems should be the first priority for the development. Detailed objectives are suggested in the study. Merits of Maritime province in Russia are the geographical proximity to Korea and the experiences that many Korean have invested in the area since 1990's. Also, it is not difficult to lease sizable land in the area. However, the agricultural facilities and infrastructures in the area have fallen behind, and the agricultural population has been decreasing continuously. Law and institutional obstacles make it difficult for foreign agricultural investors. Therefore, joint ventures between public sectors and private sectors might reduce the initial investment risks.

Researchers: Tae-Jin Kwon, Min-Jee Nam and Wan-Bae Kim E-mail address: kwontj@krei.re.kr