Rice farmers on South Korea property for sale and government policymakers need to aggressively confront challenges posed by imported rice as the country opens its market to outside competition, experts here said Wednesday.

Agricultural experts from academia and research institutes called for fundamental changes to be implemented in the coming years to allow farmers to build up their competitiveness.

"There must be a clear understanding that the agreement between South Korea and nine rice exporting countries in December 2004 only put off the full tariffication for 10 years," said Sakong Yong, a professor of economics at Sogang University.

He stressed that the government and farmers should use the grace period to make rice production more competitive so there will be less shock when the country switches to full tariffication.

In particular, the professor said the current policy of providing state support to maintain profit levels of rice farmers must be abolished since the policy distorts prices and prevents farmers from trying to raise crops that will be bought by consumers.

Seoul pledged it would ensure that farmers get a minimum of 170,000 won (US$153) for each 80-kilogram sack of rice they produce regardless of market prices. The government also said it will adjust the figure every three years.

Sakong's remarks reflect criticism in some academic circles that the government and parliament wasted 10 years after the 1994 Uruguay Round, when the country won the right to delay tariffication. They argued that the period could have been used to reduce the gap between rice prices in the domestic and global markets. Locally grown rice is three to four times more expensive than imports.