▲ Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Continuing from last year, the Middle East's interest in K-Smart Farm continues to overcome the poor climate environment and achieve food security. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, along with the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, held the 'K-Smart Farm Roadshow' in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia for a week from October 7th to promote cooperation with 12 domestic smart farm companies and local farmers. It was revealed that 369 export consultations were held between 50 buyers, creating additional opportunities for future export expansion.

This event was held to solidify the position of ‘K-Smart Farm’ in the Middle East market as the Middle East’s interest in Korean smart farms has increased more than ever since the summit economic diplomacy last year. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the first Korean pavilion was established at the 'United Arab Emirates Dubai Agricultural Exhibition (AgraME)', the largest agricultural exhibition in the Middle East, attended by more than 5,000 buyers and investors in 2023, and in Saudi and Kuwait, business forums and 1: 1 An export consultation session was held to introduce Korea's smart farm technology and continue discussions on future export contracts.

Companies with existing export experience to the Middle East, such as Nongshim and Midvar, participated in this roadshow, seeking opportunities to expand exports. Nongshim, which exported container-type vertical farms to Oman as early as 2021 and has signed three export memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in the Middle East alone to date, has solidified cooperation with existing buyers and discovered new buyers at the same time. Midvar, which had signed an export contract with a United Arab Emirates (UAE) company at the K-Smart Farm Roadshow, actively promoted its 'Air Farm' technology, which won the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 Best Innovation Award, for additional results. .

In particular, buyers from the Middle East showed a lot of interest in Air Farm technology, which reduces water usage by utilizing moisture in the air, an event official said.

The participation of companies newly entering the Middle East smart farm market, such as CJ CheilJedang and Dohwa Engineering, was also noticeable. CJ CheilJedang took the first step in exporting smart farms by introducing the vertical farm solution it developed to buyers in the Middle East for the first time. In addition, Dohwa Engineering, which is a construction company but is pursuing smart farming as a new business, participated in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs roadshow for the first time and attracted the attention of buyers by emphasizing its strengths, such as water treatment technology and experience in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, local government agencies also participated in the roadshow and attracted attention. ESTIDAMAH, a national research institute under Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Water, Environment and Agriculture, announced the trends of major smart farm projects in Saudi Arabia at a business forum and requested active participation from Korean companies, and Kuwait's Public Authority of Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources invited domestic companies to participate. We also conducted direct export consultations with . An official from the Kuwait Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said, “Korea’s smart farm has already proven its excellent competitiveness in cutting-edge agricultural fields such as vertical farms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia,” and added, “We will strengthen cooperation with Kuwait by discovering outstanding Korean companies through this roadshow.” “I hope it goes well,” he said.

Lee Sang-man, Director of Agricultural and Food Innovation Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, “K-Smart Farm’s entry into the Middle East is still in the beginning stages, and continued growth is expected based on outstanding private technology.” He added, “We are planning to build a pilot greenhouse in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and “As we are actively promoting government-to-government (G2G) cooperation with the Middle East, including the operation of the Smart Farm Cooperation Committee, we will support the advancement of companies based on this,” he said.

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