Last year, K-smart farms achieved exports worth about $6 million in Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 2nd that it successfully secured a total of two overseas projects last year through the 'Smart Farm Consortium Bid Support Project.'
The 'MannaCEA-Dohwa Engineering Consortium' signed a contract for an aquaponics smart farm worth $4.83 million in Saudi Arabia last May. Aquaponics is a new farming method that combines fish farming with hydroponics. It is an eco-friendly technology that uses biomass generated from aquatic organisms as growth energy for plants.
The 'Isu Chemical-L&P Consortium' supported the establishment of a local subsidiary in Vietnam and last month signed a contract for a strawberry vertical farm worth $1.04 million.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, in addition to these two projects, the 'FOMIT-Nongshim Consortium' is negotiating with Saudi Arabia, and the 'YBiz-Inpro-Enei Consortium' is negotiating with Azerbaijan for smart farm contracts.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs increased the budget for the 'Smart Farm Consortium Bid Support Project' this year by 50% compared to last year. Last year, the budget was 244 million won; this year, 366 million won has been allocated. The ministry plans to fully support projects for 5-6 export corporate consortiums.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has so far provided funds of the same scale without considering the characteristics of each consortium's project. In the future, it plans to provide differentiated support considering the target country, scale, and project stage.
Kim Jung-wook, director of agricultural innovation policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, noted that "corporations were able to produce tangible results last year as a result of cooperation as a one team," and said, "We will discover various support measures by reflecting the voices of the export industry to expand overseas entry of Korean-style smart farms.”