MAFRA Forms Integration Task Force: "Unified Field Support for Livestock Production and Distribution"

Integration of the Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation, Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, and Korea Institute of Livestock Environment Management
Streamlining Operations by Integrating Redundant Administrative Support Functions across Agencies

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has decided to form a dedicated task force to promote the integration of the Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation, Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, and Korea Institute of Livestock Environment Management.

The Ministry announced on September 9, 2026, that it plans to establish an integration task force (TF) and carry out the procedures necessary for integration in stages, including adjustments of each institution’s functions and enactment or amendment of relevant laws and regulations, while guaranteeing the succession of employment, improving pay and welfare conditions for employees, and enhancing other working conditions as key principles.

The government is pursuing a plan to integrate the three institutions—the Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation, Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, and Korea Institute of Livestock Environment Management—under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to streamline functions of affiliated public organizations and strengthen field-oriented agricultural administrative services. This integration would lead to the establishment of the Korea Livestock Promotion Corporation (provisional name). Additionally, the Korea Rural Community Hope Foundation will be merged into the Korea Agency of Education, Promotion and Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

At the livestock production stage, smart livestock management and traceability are handled by the Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation; hygiene and quarantine management by the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency; and management of livestock manure and livestock odor by the Korea Institute of Livestock Environment Management, with each of the three organizations responsible for different aspects. In the distribution stage, slaughter inspection support is handled by the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency and livestock product grading and traceability by the Korea Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation, resulting in tasks being divided across organizations.

An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs explained, "As a result, information sharing and work coordination between institutions have not been smooth, leading to inefficiencies in work progress. Livestock farmers also had the inconvenience of needing to identify the responsible institution depending on their business and process related procedures with each organization separately. To address this, the ministry plans to unify the field support functions dispersed across the entire livestock production and distribution sector by integrating the three organizations and reorganizing the work system to be more customer-oriented."

The ministry also plans to organically link livestock-related functions such as hygiene, quarantine, environment, and quality to improve service quality, integrate redundant administrative support functions among institutions, and increase organizational management efficiency. Moreover, by optimally deploying human resources, it aims to strengthen its ability to respond directly at the field level.

Park Sunyeon, Policy Coordination Director at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, stated, "This integration of public institutions is significant as it will connect dispersed functions efficiently and reorganize agricultural administrative services to be customer-centered. We will build a field-oriented delivery system to bring about changes that agricultural producers and the public can truly feel."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.