San José, September  14, 2021.- The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) and the Korean Republic, within the framework of the Korea-CABEI Single Donor Trust Fund (KTF), approved US$700,000 in a non-reimbursable technical cooperation to support the Government of Costa Rica in the preparation of feasibility studies for the development of a climate-smart greenhouse and a pilot plan with construction designs.

The agricultural infrastructure will include state-of-the-art technologies such as sensors, actuators, an automated irrigation system and data management platform, among others, allowing for a significant improvement in the effective and efficient use of water and energy resources, improving productivity and product quality and equipping local producers with new technical skills.

"With this cooperation we are betting on the innovation of our agricultural system in the region, Costa Rica will take an important leadership role with the design of the first pilot project of a climate-smart greenhouse, with which productivity can be increased by 40% and crop quality by 30%," explained CABEI Executive President, Dr. Dante Mossi.

The structure will make it possible to monitor crops and undertake remote actions for cooling, heating, lighting, irrigation and ventilation through sensors that measure light, heat, movement, humidity and pressure, and collect data that is then sent to a cloud computing management system that allows customized actions to address the problems detected.

This data processing system will also help farmers easily obtain knowledge and early warnings about harvest timing, soil quality, leaf conditions, water stress and the amount of fertilizer or nutrients needed, among other elements.

As part of the scope of this initiative, it is expected that the exchange of Korean capabilities and experiences in climate-smart agricultural technologies will enhance the adaptive capacity and resilience of the national agricultural sector against climate change, while empowering farms to access new agricultural innovations.

The National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) will be in charge of executing the cooperation and it is estimated that the studies and pilot plan will be available during the first half of 2023.