By Kim Tae-gyu

A new concept of ranches in order to diversify the government's cash revenue as well as procure energy and fertilizer independently using an eco-friendly method is in the works.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFAFF) said Thursday that it had approved the program of generating energy and profit from animal waste.

''A firm in North Jeolla Province is set to complete its facilities to make electricity and fertilizer from pigs and cow excretion in June. It will be enough energy to power around 700 households,'' MIFAFF official Seo Jeong-woo said.

''They have to sell the electricity to Korea Electric Power Corp. under the current regulations. In the future, they will also be able to use it themselves, creating a self-sufficient farm. The MIFAFF has carried out three pilot projects over the past couple of years in the Jeolla Provinces and Jeju Island and we are presently seeing the first success case,'' Seo said.

''We aim to encourage the establishment of around 100 such facilities by 2020, which will process 3.65 million tons of animal waste to produce electricity and cut carbon dioxide emissions amounting to 465,500 tons.''

From the perspective of the residents, the self-sufficient model has another merit.

Thanks to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, they can obtain carbon-trading permits, which they can sell.

Toward that end, they are required to gain the clean development mechanism (CDM) from the government before later getting the eventual nod from the United Nations.

''The Jeolla Province outfit achieved a CDM for the first time in the agricultural sector. They can trade carbon-trading permits after receiving a similar green light from the United Nations later this year,'' Seo said.

CDMs are one of the mechanisms included in the Kyoto Protocol intended to cut down on emissions of greenhouse gases to prevent climate change.

Scores of Korean corporations have earned CDMs but no agricultural entity has done so until now.

''The self-sufficient model has other advantages on top of increasing income and lessening emission of greenhouse gases because it can also deal with food waste,'' Seo said.

''Food garbage can be combined with animal excretion and another way to help farm households.''