KSmart Agriculture

BENGUET POISED TO BECOME

PH TOP TOMATO PRODUCER

Seoul, South Korea – Aided by South Korean Agriculture experts and funded with a $2.43-M Grant from the South Korean Government, Benguet Province could become the Philippines’ biggest producer of high value salad tomatoes by 2019.

Eighteen units of Smart Greenhouses each capable of producing 18-metric tons of salad tomatoes will be constructed in different locations in Benguet Province.

Each Smart Greenhouse will have an area of 288-sqm and will have controlled temperature ensuring greater productivity.

The 18 Smart Greenhouses are projected to produce 324-metric tons of high value tomatoes.

Earlier today, I and the members of the Philippine Delegation attending a South Korean Government-sponsored training on Smart Agriculture, travelled to Chonju Province to visit a government facility which showcases Greenhouse farming.

The participants were impressed with the modern farming technology where tomatoes grow on Coconut Peat imported from the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Water and fertilizer are supplied to the plants through small plastic pipes.

The fruits are so huge that the stems of fruits have to be reinforced with plastic to prevent these from breaking.

Benguet will be the pilot area for the KSmart Greenhouse Project with at least two other regions – Region VI and Region X – joining the program under another Fund Grant from the South Korean Government.

The Department of Agriculture which I represented signed yesterday a memorandum of agreement with the Korean Agency for Education and Public Information Service (EPIS) for the implementation of the Smart Greenhouse Program.

The signing came exactly a month after President Rodrigo Duterte visited South Korea and engaged President Moon Jae-in in productive Bilateral Talks.

The DA, once the Smart Greenhouse Project proves successful, will integrate in the project in its high value crops program in 2020.

#Changeishere!

#DuterteDelivers!

(Photos of the Korean Smart Greenhouses taken by Aleli Maghirang and Mayette Tudlas)