State research institute confident of exporting smart cooling house to UAE

By Park Sae-jin Posted : December 12, 2019, 18:31 Updated : December 13, 2019, 08:18

President Moon Jae-in inspects a cooling house in Wanju on December 12. [Yonhap Photo]

SEOUL - Confident of opening a new business opportunity in Middle East countries with scarce arable land, a state research center in South Korea boasted of the excellence and successful operation of its new smart greenhouse capable of farming fruits and vegetables in dry desert climates.

While glass greenhouses keep gardens moist and warm, cooling houses are designed to keep the interior of plantation structures humid and cool through irrigation recycling. After a successful test operation, South Korea plans to export its cooling house technology to the United Arab Emirates.

During his trip on Thursday to a cooling house built by the Rural Development Administration (RDA) in Wanju some 180 kilometers (111 miles) south of Seoul, President Moon Jae-in said that South Korea can build large cooling houses in the UAE. "Probably, we can open immeasurable ways to export it to the Middle East."

Moon recalled that he asserted at talks with UAE's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan that cooling houses as three times as larger than a football field can be built.

"It's always possible," RDA administrator Kim Kyeong-kyu said confidently. He said the UAE wants to grow rice in the desert. Other RDA officials were also upbeat saying they can create large-scale facilities with the best technology in the world.

Moon tasted strawberries grown in the cooling house and said: "We will have robots pick strawberries in the future." He suggested that the structure of the cooling house has to be strong enough to withstand the strong winds of desert areas.

Using steel beams, light control films, and sodium-vapor lamps, the smart cooling house was built in July on the land of 4,472 square meters. It is 52 meters wide, 16 meters high and 86 meters long, with its interior equipped with fog spray, aluminum light curtains and air conditioning facilities. A large ventilation window was installed at the ceiling. It has a device to provide oxygen and cold water on a rotational basis as well as a nutriculture system to provide precise control of the root environment.

Researchers are testing smart farm technologies to resolve an overall manpower shortage in South Korea's rapidly aging agricultural society and help farmers manage farms more effectively. RDA has been developing artificial intelligence-based smart farm technologies since 2014.

 
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