Chungju grower cultivates rare crop into new income source
The Korea Forest Service on Friday named Kim Jong-gwang, 58, head of Centella Byeongpul Farm, as its "Forester of the Month" for July — an honor given to forestry practitioners who achieve success through exceptional drive and dedication.
Kim was once an ordinary businessman before he discovered the wide-ranging benefits and market potential of centella asiatica, a medicinal herb known in Korean as byeongpul, and decided to enter forestry. In 2010, he returned to his hometown of Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, and set out to cultivate the plant — a path no one had taken before.
Centella asiatica is a key ingredient in wound-healing ointments and is prized for its skin-regeneration properties. It is widely used as a raw material in both pharmaceutical products — taken orally or applied to the skin — and general cosmetics.
Until little more than a decade ago, centella asiatica was imported entirely in extract form. Kim believed that growing it domestically would not only substitute for imports but also create a new income stream. After years of persistent research and trial and error, he built a multi-tier hydroponic smart farm capable of year-round production. The facility now spans 2,600 square meters and produces up to 10 tons of the herb annually.
The variety Kim grows, branded "ST Care," is a new cultivar whose leaves are four to five times larger than those of ordinary centella asiatica, yielding far greater output per unit area. He also forgoes pesticides and chemical fertilizers, relying instead on beneficial microorganisms and natural extracts to ensure safety. By processing the harvest into a range of products — dried herbs, tea and soap — and expanding his sales channels, Kim has achieved annual sales of 200 million won ($129,000).
"This is an outstanding example of identifying a rare crop and developing it into a new income source," said Lee Sang-ik, director general of the Korea Forest Service's Forest Industry Policy Bureau. "We will actively support foresters who blaze new trails like this — from production and processing to retail and market development."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
