Jeonnam Province Increases Farm Income Through 'Smart Agriculture'

[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeonnam Province has decided to actively promote smart agriculture incorporating information and communication technology (ICT) to increase farm income in response to the decline and aging of the farming population.

The province announced on the 1st that it will create a ‘Smart Farm Innovation Valley’ to foster young smart farm farmers and upstream and downstream industries, and expand support for the ‘Smart Farm Facility Distribution Project,’ including the establishment of an environmental control system necessary to create an optimal growth environment.

The ‘Smart Farm Innovation Valley’ project will be established from last year until 2022 with an investment of 110 billion won, covering an area of 33.3 hectares in Gayari, Dodeok-myeon, Goheung-gun.

Since last year, the province has selected 52 young smart farm startup trainees and is conducting long-term specialized education for 20 months, covering theory, practice, and management, while planning to support the settlement of 156 young farmers in the province by next year.

In addition, to foster upstream and downstream industries of smart agriculture, industry-academia-research-government cooperation will promote technological innovation, verification, and demonstration, collect, store, and analyze environmental growth data within smart farms, and provide this as basic farming information for local farms to utilize.

The ‘Smart Farm Facility Distribution Project’ will invest 2 billion won this year and support the establishment of environmental control systems necessary to create an optimal growth environment for crops in facility greenhouses.

As of last year, there are 241 smart farm households covering 143 hectares in Jeonnam Province, which is more than ten times the 10 hectares recorded in 2014 when support began.

The increase in smart farm households is analyzed to be due to significant improvements in productivity and labor savings compared to conventional farms.

So Young-ho, Director of the Agriculture, Livestock and Food Bureau of Jeonnam Province, said, “Rural areas in Jeonnam are facing concerns about rural extinction due to aging and population decline, and difficulties due to climate change. We will expand the distribution of smart agriculture to create ‘agriculture with income and rural areas where people want to live.’”