AgricultureID

Country agriculture profile · East Asia & Pacific

Korea, Rep.

South Korea has a compact, intensive agricultural sector constrained by mountainous topography and by rapid industrialisation that has drawn labour off the land. Irrigated paddy rice remains the staple crop and a focus of self-sufficiency policy, alongside intensive greenhouse horticulture, orchard fruit, and confined Hanwoo beef, pig, and poultry production. Farms are small and increasingly worked by an ageing population, and the country imports most of its feed grains and oilseeds. Rice self-sufficiency, farmland-conversion pressure, and rural depopulation are persistent policy themes.

Stable overview + dated statisticsUpdated: 2026-07-12

Farming systems (stable overview)

Climate zones

  • Humid continental
  • Humid subtropical (southern coast and Jeju)

Agroecological zones

  • Western and southern coastal plains
  • Central mountainous uplands
  • Jeju Island volcanic soils

Dominant crop systems

  • Irrigated paddy rice as the dominant staple
  • Intensive greenhouse and open-field vegetables
  • Orchard fruit (apple, pear, persimmon, and Jeju citrus)
  • Upland barley, soybean, and pulses

Major livestock systems

  • Confined Hanwoo beef cattle
  • Intensive pig production
  • Large-scale broiler and layer poultry
  • Dairy cattle

Irrigation: Paddy rice depends on well-developed irrigation from reservoirs and pumping stations, while summer-concentrated monsoon rainfall supplies most upland cropping.

Latest verified data

Each value is the most recent available observation, shown with its own year and unit. Figures are periodically revised — treat them as dated, sourced statistics, not evergreen facts.

Latest available agricultural indicators, with year and unit
IndicatorValueUnitYear
Agricultural land16.07% of land area2023
Arable land14.92% of land area2023
Cereal yield6,615.2kg per hectare2023
Livestock production index109.28index (2014–2016 = 100)2022
Crop production index93.62index (2014–2016 = 100)2022
Agriculture value added1.46% of GDP2024
Employment in agriculture(est.)5.2% of total employment2024
Fertilizer consumption262.31kg per hectare of arable land2023

Source: World Bank Open Data (World Development Indicators) (opens in a new tab) · dataset version 2026-07-01 · retrieved 2026-07-12

Cereal yield over time

201220182023
Korea, Rep. — Cereal yield (kg per hectare). Bars start at zero.
Show data table
Korea, Rep. — Cereal yield in kg per hectare by year
Yearkg per hectare
20126,135.8
20136,479.2
20146,618
20156,814.9
20166,792.7
20176,678.5
20186,607.2
20196,538.1
20206,211.6
20216,826.1
20226,612.2
20236,615.2

Source: World Bank Open Data (World Development Indicators) (opens in a new tab) · dataset version 2026-07-01 · retrieved 2026-07-12

Derived indicator

Arable land as a share of agricultural land: 92.9 % of agricultural land (2023)

Derived value — formula arable-share-of-agricultural-land v1.0.0 (calc v1). Inputs: AG.LND.ARBL.ZS (14.9) ÷ AG.LND.AGRI.ZS (16.1). A derived ratio, not an observed statistic. Sensitive to rounding and to differing revision cycles of the two source series; omit rather than extrapolate when a common year is unavailable.

Documented crops & livestock

Agricultural institutions

  • Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) — National agriculture and rural policy authority.
  • Rural Development Administration (RDA) — National agricultural research and extension agency.
  • Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) — Government think tank for agricultural and rural policy.

Data coverage & limitations

Covered by the World Bank WDI snapshots for land, production, yield, economy, inputs, and environment indicators.

  • Statistics are dated, versioned, and periodically revised; always read them with their reference year and dataset version.
  • National definitions of farm, cultivated land, and livestock categories differ from those used elsewhere.
  • Very small average farm sizes complicate comparison with land-extensive systems.
  • Heavy reliance on imported feed and oilseeds means domestic production statistics understate the food system as a whole.

Sources

This article draws on the following authoritative sources. See our sources & methodology for how they are selected.

  1. [1]World Bank Open Data — World Development Indicators (opens in a new tab)

    World Bank

    Authoritative

    Cited for: Agricultural statistics (WDI)

    Type:
    Intergovernmental organization
    Jurisdiction:
    Global
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12
  2. [2]FAO — Food and Agriculture Organization (opens in a new tab)

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Authoritative

    Cited for: Production systems and food-balance context

    Type:
    Intergovernmental organization
    Jurisdiction:
    Global
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12