South Korea wants to bring 20 percent of its agriculture under smart technology by 2022, and the country's research institutions are pressing ahead with that goal, Shykh Seraj reports. Advanced research on improving soil components is under way at Chungbuk National University.

The country wants to expand smart farming across agriculture. It aims to spread the technology to at least 20 percent of main crop farming and fish farming nationwide, and 25 percent in the livestock sector. Linked to this goal, universities are pursuing research relevant to the times, including on climate change.

In the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Chungbuk National University, wide-ranging advanced research on soil health is under way. "We are looking at how chemical fertiliser use changes the rate of microorganisms in the soil," said Professor Dr. Tong Min Sa. "How to restore the soil's lost strength with new kinds of biofertiliser is an important part of our research." Students from Bangladesh and West Bengal are researching these subjects there.

The Korean agriculture ministry's big goal now is to make farming profitable in many ways using information and communication technology. Park Soo-jin, a director general at the ministry, said: "We are working to greatly increase the use of ICT in agriculture, with a special focus on producing crops in modern, specialised greenhouses. We plan to expand greenhouses to 10,000 hectares by 2022, 75 percent of which will be run with smart technology."

Source: Shykh Seraj, Hridoye Mati O Manush. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.