GINSENG DAMAGE AMID HEAT WAVE

[Anchor Lead]

A prolonged heat wave has led to serious crop damage. Daily highs of 35 degrees or more have continued for nearly 20 days, causing ginseng plants in Geumsan, Chungcheongnam-do Province to wither away.

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A ginseng farm in Geumsan, Chungcheongnam-do Province. Ginseng leaves which should be green have all yellowed and withered. The ginsengs are mostly one or two years old with slow root growth. These leaves are clearly different from those of healthy ginseng plants. Ginseng grows best between 18 and 25 degrees celsius. But these days the temperature spikes to more than 30 even under the tarp. The ginseng plants have stopped growing, so the harvest amount and quality fall even if they resume growing next year.

[Soundbite] Lee Sang-nam(Chair, Geumsan Ginseng Society) : "Other crops are farmed for 2 to 6 months. But ginseng has to be cultivated for 5 or 6 years. So ginseng lost a year of growth this year."

In the summer of 2018, when a scorching heat wave lasted for more than a month, 3,600 hectares of ginseng fields, roughly a quarter of the entire ginseng cultivating area, suffered damage. Subsequently, the Chungcheongnam-do Agricultural Research and Extension Services issued a heat wave warning and asked farmers to provide enough water, ventilation and shade.

[Soundbite] Jee Moo-geun(Researcher, Ginseng Medicinal Plant Research Institute) : "To prevent heat damage, farmers should put up tarp over or fences around the field. It’s better to lower the ground temperature by irrigating the field in the morning."

Farmers have one more thing to worry about. Unlike damage incurred from heavy snow or flood, it's hard to receive proper compensation for crop loss from heat.