Chairman Choi Chang-ho of the National Forestry Cooperative Federation (NFCF) joins a campaign to help medical staff combating to prevent COVID-19 on July 24.

Chairman Choi Chang-ho of the National Forestry Cooperative Federation (NFCF) said, “The forestry industry is now facing with a turning point and a crisis in which NFCF will have to reestablish its intrinsic roles to secure more fundamental, long-term future growth engines.”

NFCF Chairman Choi made the remarks while appearing on an audit of the government by the National Assembly Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans & Fisheries Committee on July 27.

Chairman Choi said the NFCF will concentrate its all capabilities to make a leap forward by intensively pursing changes and innovation so as to translate a crisis into opportunities.

Initially, he said, NFCF will ramp up support to those in the forestry industry so as to promote shared growth with its cooperative members, the cooperative’s function, and fulfill its social responsibilities as the forestry cooperative.

The cooperative will suggest a regional win-win forestry management business model prioritizing income of forestry owners and creation of forestry jobs by expanding concentrated, large-sized “forestry management complexes,” going concentrated and large-sized, and privately-owned forests, he said.

Chairman Choi said NFCF will conduct forestry management guidance tailored to meet site needs and targeting specialized items to raise income of forestry owners and those in the forestry industry.

The move is designed to revamp forestry management guidance into a demand-oriented regime, he said. Off-line direct sale markets and contactless distribution channels will be expanded to boost forestry item producers’ markets in keeping with a rising demand in eco-friendly food.

NFCF is implementing a five-year plan calling for raising the number of cooperative members and associate members to 1 million. The cooperative plans to raise its membership from 396,000 in June to 410,000 by the end of the year.

The cooperative is endeavoring to spread sustainable privately-owned forestry management models and invigorate them. NFCF plans to raise the number of cooperatives involving a pilot project of commissioned proxy management of privately-owned forests from two in 2019 to 23 this year.

Legal and institutional groundwork will be worked out to settle the commissioned proxy management.

Leading forest management complexes will be expanded to promote sustainable private-run forest management.

Eight forests, each covering more than 500 ha in size and more than 60 percent of area gaining approval, have been designated as leading forest management complexes.

The total breaks down to three in 2014, five in 2015, two in 2017, five in 2019 and three in 2020. Leading forest management complexes are offered operational support such as .boosting the income of owners and job creation.

NFCF is trying to realize a forest management model in which marginalized forest areas go concentrated and large-sized.

It plans to designate 20 cooperatives as forest management models - two or three cooperatives in each region, each covering more than 20 ha.

The move is designed to overcome the marginality of privately-owned forest and expand forest owners’ participation in management.

Chuncheon Mayor Lee Jae-soo, Lee Jae-ho of NFCF’s Gangwon regional headquarters, and Kim Young-hoe, chief of Chuncheon City Forest Cooperative attend a trekking to discuss ways of using city-owned forests. They trekked a 10 km-long course in Dong-myeon, Chuncheon, on July 18. (Photos: NFCF)