The Korean government will add 4,300 jobs and train 600 tech-savvy would-be farmers until 2022 under its “Smart Farm” project aimed to dress the agricultural and livestock sectors with new technologies and make decent jobs for young people.

Smart Farm represents a combination of farming technologies with information and communication technologies (ICT) brought to greenhouse, cattle shed, and orchard to control facility conditions and monitor growth of vegetation and animals via smart devices.

To help attract young populations into graying agribusiness, the government will create a professional education program, run smart farms available for lease and provide land for large-sized smart farms across the country, the agricultural ministry said on Monday.

The program with a 20-month curriculum schedule to train up to 600 young farmers will start from next year. Graduates will be entitled to lease a piece from the government’s 30ha farm with facility spending funded via long-term low interest loans.

In addition, a venture fund dedicated to fledgling business entities for agricultural products and foods will be raised in July with a goal of up to 12.5 billion won ($11.6 million) for this year.

By Lee Yu-sup and Minu Kim

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