The K-Smart Farm Roadshow Leads to Fruitful Results in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan 

Sejong, 21 May 2025 —The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) jointly held this year’s first K-Smart Farm Roadshow in the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Azerbaijan, from 12 to 16 May. 

The MAFRA and the KOTRA have been holding the roadshow every year to help Korean smart-farm companies to enter overseas markets. Through the event, the two government organizations provide support for Korean companies to become leading players in the global smart-farm market. Such support includes providing opportunities for Korean smart-farm companies to showcase their technologies in promising markets overseas and have one-on-one business meetings with overseas buyers.

With 11 participating Korean companies, the roadshow held in Almaty of Kazakhstan and in Baku of Azerbaijan generated fruitful results through 101 business meetings¹⁾. In particular, the roadshow in Kazakhstan led to the signing of four Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) worth USD 360,000. 

1) 63 meetings in Almaty, and 38 meetings in Baku

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), including Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, is one of the regions most favoured by Korean companies, as the region has a relatively nascent smart-farming industry and favorable views of Korean products. Since 2023, South Korea has won contracts for smart-farm projects worth approximately USD 5 million in the region. Thus, it is expected that more Korean smart farms will be exported to the region. 

The MAFRA and the KOTRA will continue to monitor the difficulties faced by Korean companies and provide support for them to ensure that their business meetings at the roadshow will yield contracts on the exports and construction orders of smart farms. The MAFRA and the KOTRA will also hold the K-Smart Farm Roadshow in other promising markets, including Russia, China, and Canada, to provide a platform for Korean smart-farm businesses to network with buyers in those countries. 

Director-General KIM Jung Wook of the MAFRA’s Agri-food Innovation Policy Bureau said: “The K-Smart Farm Roadshow in Almaty and Baku received many business meeting requests from prospective buyers in the countries. We will continue to develop policies to help Korean smart-farm companies to expand their global market shares through exports, as well as to grow the smart-farm sector into an export industry of the Republic of Korea.”