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World Report View

Hallabong and Jeju's Groundwater

by Geumbee Ahn | 21-02-2021 20:06 recommendations 0

Dekopon, or the shiranuhi, is a type of orange that was originally created in Japan as a hybrid of the citrus fruits Kiyomi and ponkan. Known in the United States as the Sumo Orange, the Dekopon has a large protrusion on the top of its spherical orange form (appendix 1). The breed was first introduced to South Korea during the 90s and became a localized crop in Jeju Island, gaining a new commercial name - the Hallabong - owing to the orange's resemblance to the peak of Mount Halla, the highest mountain in South Korea and a dormant volcano that last erupted thousands of years ago along with the volcanic formation of Jeju itself. The word hallabong is a portmanteau between the prefix Halla - derived from the namesake mountain - and -bong, which carries the meaning of 'mountaintop' or 'hill' in Korean.

The hallabong is now an edible symbol of Jeju's pristine conditions and environmental cleanliness, and is an extremely popular souvenir for tourists who purchase dekopon products by the bulk for waiting family members and friends back home (appendix 2). A vast majority of the hallabong farms, however, whose lands cover approximately 20,000 ha^2 and generate an aggregate revenue of over 940 million dollars per annum, are not equipped with self-sufficient water filtering systems that adequately prevent the used and oftentimes heavily contaminated water used for hallabong farming from flowing back into Jeju's groundwater supplies without undergoing proper filtration procedures. As a result, the contamination conditions of Jeju's groundwater supply has steadily declined over the last few years in stark contrast with the increasing revenue generated by the hallabong farms.

Furthermore, artificial fertilizers used by the hallabong agricultural industry to nourish the land with chemicals such as nitrogen(N), phosphoric acid(P) and potassium(K) have inflicted irreparable damage upon the farming soil that contributes towards the pollution of groundwater by letting the harmful chemicals bleed into the underground water supply without preventive measures being established in between. This problem is further exacerbated upon the occurrence of irrigation through rainfall, as the rainwater carries the toxic chemicals deeper into the earth and infiltrates groundwater reservoirs by embedding them into the soil.

The hallabong is a Janus-faced fruit - though it represents the environmental purity of Jeju Island and markets itself as the symbol of its unpolluted environmental virtues, the industry that benefits from its sales are in fact some of the largest polluters of Jeju's pristine ecosystem and water. It is imperative that restrictive legislation concerning the water filtration measures of hallabong farms is immediately introduced before irreparable harm can be done towards Jeju Island and its groundwater.
Appendix 1 - Dekopon, stock photos Appendix 2 - 'Jekiss' Hallabong Chocolates, https://faroe.desertcart.com/

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2 Comments

  • Sharmila Pandey says :
    Hello Geumbe,
    Glad to read about Dekopon, thanks for sharing such an informative report.
    Warm regards,
    sharmila

    Posted 18-03-2021 12:14

Shobha Pokhrel

  • Shobha Pokhrel says :
    Hello Geumbe ,

    thanks for sharing such an informative Report .

    warm Regards ,

    Shobha
    Posted 22-02-2021 23:44

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