Seoul’s farmers will be able to bring their fresh harvests to an outdoor market to be set up among Gwanghwamun skyscrapers on Saturdays, city officials said.

The Seoul Farmers’ Market, open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., will allow farmers and food producers, not just in the capital but elsewhere in the country, to sell directly to consumers, they said.

It will open every Saturday from June 2 till mid-October.

“We hope that it becomes more than just a food market and helps bring closer urban and rural communities and promote urban farming,” said Kwon Hyeok-so, a senior city official.

It will also be a chance for consumers to buy as many as 340 items at 10 to 30 percent cheaper than their market prices, the official said.

The market is part of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon’s efforts to promote urban farming.

To coincide with the market’s opening on June 2, the mayor will proclaim 2012 the base year for urban farming in Seoul.

He will join some 1,500 citizens in planting rice seedlings in a paddy field on Nodle Island in the Han River.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)