South Korea and Nepal sign MoU to introduce Korean tech in herbs farming

 Kathmandu, Feb. 22

Various organisations from South Korea and Nepal have signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) to farm and process herbs with Korean technology in Nepal.

They signed the MoUs at the Smart Farming and Biotechnology Network forum organised on Thursday in Kathmandu. The event is organised on the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of the establishment of Korea-Nepal diplomatic relations, and aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two countries, promote sustainable development in the Asian region, and strengthen partnerships in various fields.

The focus of the collaborative research will be on Spadeleaf (Centella asiatica) and Asphaltum (Shilajeet). Spadeleaf is found across the country while Shilajeet is found in the rocks in the high mountain region. It will open an avenue for a vast untapped areas of herbs and herbal industry in Nepal and can boos export of such products.

Myung Ja Kim, Chief Executive Officer of Reputer Ltd of Korea informed that a company is also moving ahead with preparations to conduct smart farming of herbs in Nepal.

President of Nepal-Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Director of Sakha Steel, Kiran Sakha, said that Nepal could learn from the Koran technology in modern farming of food and herbs. "We will apply high-end technology in herbal farming and processed products would be exported to Korea. This is the launching of the initiative to expand the market of Nepali herbal products to a global scale," he said.

According to him, Korean institutions such as Reputer, Letsfarm and Jeonbuk Institute for Food – Bio-industry will extend their technical support and assure the sales of the product as well. Meanwhile, smart farming of herbs has already been started in Lumbini of Rupandehi district.

The MoUs were signed by Myung Ja Kim of Reputer, Seongjin Park of Letsfarm and Eunmi Lee of Jeonbuk Institute from the Korean side, and Assistant Professors of the Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU) of Nepal, Saroj Sapkota and Krishna Hari Dhakal, and representatives of private sector companies from Nepali side.

Ambassador of South Korea to Nepal, Park Tae-Young, said that further initiatives and programmes would be announced and implemented on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the establishment of the bilateral relations between the two countries.

"This is a unique programme as it incorporated private sector companies, academic research centres and government agencies," he said. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 23 February 2024.