| In South Korea, three quarters of the land is mountainous andfarmlands cover only 16.6 percent of the territory -half of which is dedicated to rice growing. For a long time, eager to reach self-sufficiency, South Korea made rice production the priority of its agricultural policy such that in 2004, only 4 percent of rice was imported. But since 2005, under the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, South Korea has to lower its protectionism and progressively increase its import quota of rice to 8 percent before 2014. Today, South Korea is self-sufficient for 25 percent of its needs in agricultural products but this percentage falls to 5 percent if rice is excluded. Since the opening of the market, countrysides are emptying, and farmers are indebted and not cost competitive with imported rice. On the other hand, the government has chosen the option of producing some of its food abroad. In 2008, the Korean firm Daewoo acquired rights on 3.2 million acres (1.3 million hectares) of farmlands in Madagascar. The company intends to produce corn there which would be exported to Korea. To guarantee their food safety, certain rich countries –in particular Middle-Eastern and Asian– are increasingly renting or buying farmland in developing countries. Some people see this as a "win-win" contract with funds and technologies introduced to a developing country in exchange for the use of the land. Others denounce this practice as a form of agrarian neocolonialism.
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.&title2=Farmer raking rice in the sun in Milyang, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea (35°28’ N, 128°46’ E).&title3= "download in wallpaper")
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