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Document Sample
The Development
of E-business
and
Entrepreneurship
among Korean
Women's
Agricultural
Cooperatives
Young-Ock Kim
(Korean Women's Development Institute)
Contents
1. Women Farmers in Korea
2. Income Generating Activities
3. ICT Programs for Farmers
4. The Development of E-business for
Women's Agricultural Co-ops
5. Direct & Indirect Outcomes
6. Future Direction
Entrepreneurship
1. Women Farmers in
Korea
# of Women Farmers > # of Men
(Year of 2004)
Sex Persons %
Men 946,000 47.0
Women 1,067,000 53.0
.......... But most of women farmers are
unpaid family workers, a few are
managers.
Dual burden of Farming and Domestic Work
Labor hours in rice farming households
(1998, per day)
Busy Farming Slack Farming
Yearly Mean
Season Season
Woma
Man Woman Man Woman Man
n
Total 11:50 12:58 6:18 8:45 9:04 10:52
Farm Labor 11:35 9:00 5:35 3:34 8:35 6:17
Housework 0:15 3:59 0:43 5:11 0:29 4:35
Source: RDA, The Report on Life Times of Rural Women and Managers, 1999
Women Farmers have long farming experience.
Most rural women(30.2%) have been devoted to
farming for the years of 10-20.
The next highest proportion(about 25%) falls
into the years of 30 and above.
farm women's y ears worked
no ans w ers 1.8
30 y ears & over 24.3
20-30 y ear 20.6
10-20 y ear 30.2
5-10 y ear 13.2
3-5 y ear 3.7
les s than 3 y ear 6.1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
%
Invisible Women Farmers
Although many farm women
participate in farming, most farm
women have been alienated from
farm management, decision making,
and distribution process of
agricultural products.
Ownership of property
-The rate of ownership in land and
house
- are both found to be below 2%.
100 94.0 94.0
80
60 Female
40 Male
20
1.8 1.8
0
Land House
2. Income Generating
Activities
Inadequate Agricultural Income
○ Most of Korean farmers still live on the
income generated mainly from rice and a
number of other crops, such as barley,
pulses, potatoes, apples, Chinese
cabbage, onions, and red-pepper.
○ Average farm household income are
below the average level of the urban
incomes although rural living conditions
have improved significantly.
INCOME GENERATING PROGRAMS
Rural Development Administration (RDA) has
started IGPs since 1990.
- Identifying women's indigenous knowledge
and expertise
- Supporting starts-up costs
- Providing processing technologies and
managing skills
- Consulting packing and designing
- Helping marketing
Rural Development Administration
(RDA)
- RDA is the central government organization
for agricultural researches and extension
services.
- RDA has 12 institutes responsible for all
aspects of agricultural research and
education. And RDA has 9 Province
Agricultural Research and Education
Services, and 157 City/County Agricultural
Development and Technology Center, which
carry out research and extension services
for their respective region.
INCOME GENERATING PROGRAMS
- The main contents of the works are the
processing, packing, sales of agricultural
products and manufacture of traditional
foods such as soy fermented foods, and the
production of special products in the local
areas.
- RDA has subsidized 169 projects with
national, and more than 700 projects with
local subsidy. The total funding support
from National Gov was amounted to 2,292
millions won.
Income Generating Programs
( 1990-2003, National subsidy only )
'90∼
'96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 Total
'95
# of
38 9 10 10 18 20 21 23 20 169
projects
Funding
186 90 100 120 216 300 420 460 400 2,292
(Million won)
3. ICT Programs for
Farmers
- Since the whole society has
transformed into information society
with high speed, the digital divide
between urban and rural areas as well
as between sex has emerged.
- To reduce such gap Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry implemented
various IT programs for farmers.
① Computer Education for Farmers
- Computer education to 170,000
farmers from 2000 to 2002 (75,000 in
2001) .
- In 2001, the program becomes more
systematic ( basic → intermediary →
advanced course )
② Mobile Computer Education
- A special bus equipped with computer
facilities visits farm households, who
live in remote areas with little access
to proper education equipment, as well
as those who cannot afford to leave
their workplace.
- In 2001, the program will be offered to
2,000 farmers in 150 villages.
③ “Farming Information 119”
- Farmers make a telephone call when having trouble
with their computers, and agricultural college
students visit the households for assistance. Students
trained for this purpose receive actual expenses for
providing each service by the Government.
- In 2000, 10,109 farmers received the service and the
number of the beneficiary is expected to increase to
15,000 in 2001.
- This individual-tailored education program includes
how to fix computers at home and to use computers,
and how to search data on the Internet, as well as
how to utilize agricultural softwares.
④ Assistance System for Farm Products
Shipment
- Posting, on the Internet, important
wholesale market information such as prices
and trade volumes of farm products would
assist farmers in selecting the market, best
time, and method of shipment.
- In 2001, real-time information on wholesale
auction of a variety of products such as
garlic, onion, hot pepper, radish, and
cabbage was provided. Furthermore, more
detailed agricultural production data were
added onto a wireless Internet.
⑤ Comprehensive shopping mall for
E-commerce of agricultural products
- To provide a list of price and quality of farm
products directly to consumers by linking farmers’
websites with an on-line shopping malls in 2001,
the existing 400 websites were developed into
comprehensive portal sites with 500 new websites
and extended links with more on-line shopping
malls.
- Quality of contents on these websites also
improved, with 3-dimensional display of products,
an animation image of high-end farm products, and
additional information on agricultural equipment.
- In addition, customer management system was
introduced to strengthen one-on-one marketing.
⑥ Building personal home pages for farmers
- By building home pages for farmers,
farmers will be able to take part in an
on-line agricultural market and reduce
the marketing margin.
- 106 and 306 websites were built in
1999 and 2000 respectively.
- In 2001, 506 websites were newly
established, with separate on-line
communities for each region and farm
product.
4. The Development of E-business
for Women's Agricultural Co-ops
- Income Generating teams are
women's agricultural co-ops.
- Most of the Income Generating
Programs have been equipped
with home pages for E-business.
5. Direct & Indirect Outcomes
- Raising farm income
- Money income of her own name
- Self confidence of rural women
- Consuming local materials & inputs
- Vitalizing local area with e-trades,
farm tour
- Keeping, R&D of women’s indigenous
knowledge
6. Future Direction -> Entrepreneurship
Operating a homepage is not enough to launch
e-commerce. Tasks to promote e-commerce
of women’s co-ops are,
- Entrepreneurial education including book
keeping, marketing, legal restrictions &
procedures, return policy
- Upskilling processing and packing (also
environment friendly)
- Standardization of goods & establishment of
quality assurance system
- Integrated information system for on-the-spot
ordering, confirmation of delivery, etc.
