SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's area of rice paddies logged the highest yearly fall in 2021 amid the lower rice consumption in the Asian country, statistical office data showed Friday.
The cultivated rice paddies totaled 780,440 hectares in 2021, down 5.3 percent from the previous year, according to Statistics Korea. It marked the fastest reduction since data began to be compiled in 1975.
The biggest fall was attributed to the chronic supply glut and the sliding consumption of rice, caused by the change in eating habits.
The country's per-capita rice consumption shrank 1.4 percent from a year earlier to hit a record low of 56.9 kilograms in 2021, while the total rice output jumped 10.7 percent to 3.88 million tons.
The area of dry fields rose 3.4 percent over the year to 766,277 hectares in 2021, marking the fastest increase amid the higher price for vegetables in the country.
According to the official data, the total arable land in South Korea came to 1,546,717 hectares in 2021, down 1.2 percent from the prior year. It has been on the decline for the ninth straight year since 2013. ■