Present Status and Prospect of Weed Control in Korea

우리나라의 잡초방제(雜草防除) 현황(現況)과 전망(展望)

Weed is one of the problems in the crop land as well as in uncultivated land, raising the farm management costs. Therefore, the weed control is essential for effective agricultural management. The cost for weed control in Korea occupies on the average 27.6% of the total labor cost required. Agricultural policies since 1960 were transferring from yield increase due to land productivities to increase of income due to labor productivities. Therefore, the weed control by hand is also changed to weed control by chemicals. The weed control by chemicals has also brought about some side-effects and needs better, improved weed control methods. The present weed control situation and related problems were studied to present new approaches for agricultural development in the future. There were 458 species of weeds in 82 families which were growing in the crop land. The weeds to control, however, are 12 in paddy field and 9 in upland. So far weeds in paddy field are well under control, while weeds in upland are poorly controlled due to change in chemical efficiency and chemical damage in the upland. The administration, research and extension work for the efficient use of agricultural chemicals have been done by various institutions, such as Office of Rural Development, Office of Forestry, and chemical companies. The courses for agricultural chemicals were offered in the agricultural colleges. However, the efficiency of chemicals could not be maximized due to the poor relationships among related institutes. The newly established Agricultural Chemical Research Center at the Office of Rural Development and the Korean Weed Science Association are expected to contribute toward improving weed control in Korea. The Korean agriculture in the future will eventually be mechanized and the varieties resistant to high nitrogen application and to high plant density will be required for high yields. The rice will be transplanted earlier and the whole growing period will be extended. The application of organic matter will be increased for increasing soil fertility, and the use of agricultural chemicals will be continued. Under such a condition, the studies on the weed occurrence and its integrated control measures will be needed. Also weed controls in the newly exclaimed land, crop varieties, horticultural varieties, forage crops, and forests are also needed to study. Basic and practical researches for the weed control to improve the labor productivity will be also needed. In order to meet the all requirements for efficient weed control, weed control systems including all the academics, research and extension workers, administratives, farmers and companies should be established. Also securing researchers and education of personnels are pre-required and research funds for the chemical studies should be provided efficiently and timely.