The Longer, the Tastier : Long Sweet Paprika

The Longer, the Tastier : Long Sweet Paprika

Smart Farm that promises best quality

CEO Kim Jong-woon of Tamjindeul describes the paprika produced at the smart farm.

Tamjindeul Co., Ltd, which is in Gangjin, Jeollanamdo, produces about 2,500 tons of paprika annually. Its sales amount to about USD 8.57 million a year. Especially, the company has introduced Smart Farm, which combines ICT with its advanced glass greenhouse, thus achieving stable quality control, great productivity and profit, and saved labor among others. Lately, growing ‘long sweet paprika’ which is longer than ordinary paprika varieties, the company draws unusual attention from overseas markets including Japan.

Long Sweet Paprika Couldn’t Be More Popular

Long sweet paprika flaunts its eye-catching long shape. It is also known as ‘Pinocchio paprika’, because it looks like the nose of the lying fictional character. Usually available with a length of 20cm, the variety boasts the advantage of more excellent usability in cooking compared to ordinary paprika. Also, the variety demonstrates higher sugar content and registers a crisp mouthfeel from its high water content as compared to ordinary paprika.

Tamjindeul started its production of about 50 tons of long sweet paprika, all of which is exported to Japan. As it met favorable reaction from Japanese consumers, the company is moving again to seel its produce to Japan this year. President Kim Jong-woon of Tamjindeul said, “Since last year, we have grown long sweet paprika through a strategic partnership with a Japan-based distributor,” and added, “Building on the positive local reception of the variety, we are going ahead with this year’s export to Japan, and we look forward to its increase down the road.”

Long sweet paprika comes in two different colors of red or yellow. The red variety reportedly boasts excellent anticancer action from its rich content of lycopene and carotene, while the yellow one reportedly boosts eye vision with its rich content of lutein. Now witnessing great export potential for long sweet paprika, Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs (MAFRA) and Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. (aT) have tapped it for the Miracle K-Food project (designed to discover and nurture the country’s leading exports).

Size Successfully Achieved with Smart Farm

The paprika of Tamjindeul is safely grown at the smart farm.

2. The employees of Tamjindeul engaged in culling paprika.

3. The Long Sweet Paprika being sold to Japan.

Tamjindeul Co., Ltd. is now viewed as a model case in which producers have achieved size through collaboration. Tamjindeul started with five coop members in an automated glass greenhouse with an area of 13,200m2 . They created an agricultural incorporation with a view to exports, taking their first step in their collaborative system of joint production and sales among others, but have experienced much difficulty in homogenizing quality as different farmers had different farming conditions.

To cope with such given conditions, Tamjindeul chose to introduce Smart Farm. President Kim Jong-woon said, “As Smart Farm was developed as an apt tool for achieving not only quality management but organization and upsizing of farming households, we definitely needed to acquire it,” and added, “So, we got the smart farm technology which we witnessed as actually applied through our tour of an advanced overseas application.” In the first place, the company focused on getting the facilities set up, but convinced that the name of the game was the operation of Smart Farm, it received training from specialists invited each month.

As the partnership grew to include up to 70 farmers, the company made and distributed a booklet on paprika farming in a bid to educate member farmers. On top of the basic manual, hands-on training was deployed to ensure homogeneous quality from the farmers.

Strict Quality Control Makes a Competitive Edge

Tamjindeul applied itself to acquiring its distinctive know-how for business operation. The date is incorporated by adding crop data and the date on the environment in the greenhouse. Through the once-a-week technology meetings between the farming staff and the group of specialists, the company has sought a way to produce highquality paprika. The process involved in creating the crop growth strategy through data collection and meetings has become a precious asset of Tamjindeul.

The paprika produced at the Smart Farm facilities acquired in 2016 the country’s first GLOBAL GAP certification that would completely disclose manufacturing history. It has also been certified for ISO, a global standard. The eco-friendly farming that uses natural enemies further makes the strengthen of Tamjindeul. The stable quality control enabled by Smart Farm has led to the maintenance of stable sales channels. The paprika of Tamjindeul which satisfies the global quality standard has over 50% of its output sold overseas mainly to Japan. Meanwhile, the company is building a solid domestic market by supplying continuously to Nonghyup, mega distributors, food makers etc.

President Kim Jong-woon said, “As the first Korean instance for vegetables and fruits, we have acquired GLOB- AL GAP certification to make sure that consumers can feel comfortable eating paprika,” added, “We do our best to produce safe paprika by frequently testing for any hazards, not only with a view to international sales but also to assure local consumers.”

Inquiries

Tamjindeul Co., Ltd.

Tel +82-61-434-5877 Fax +82-62-434-5878

Email skywitch86@hanmail.net

Website www.tamjinpap.com