The Vietnam Digital Agriculture Association launches the first ever report on the country's agriculture in 2021 in Hanoi on July 7 (Photo: VNA)Nguyen DucTung, general secretary of the Vietnam Digital Agriculture Association (VIDA),made the statement said at a launch ceremony for a report on digitaltransformation in agriculture in Hanoi on July 7.
“Vietnam hasadequate facilities and infrastructure to implement digital transformation inthe agricultural sector,” he said, adding that farmers’ technology adaption wasamong the factors that needed most attention when building digital agriculture.
According tothe report, although Vietnam was an agricultural country, Vietnameseagriculture has still not had strong development due to many internal andglobal problems.
The multi-dimensionalimpact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the COVID-19 pandemic has forcedthe economy and agriculture to transform, according to the report.
The reportsaid though digital transformation was inevitable and the first results of thechange have shown potential, the digital transformation process of agriculturalproduction was still long and full of challenges.
The reportconsidered the e-government programme of the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment and other regulations in data sharing as positive points in theprocess, but the weakness of the system was that agricultural data was notconnected from the local to national level while there was a lack of humanresources to use technology in farming.
Mostagriculture students don’t know much about technology, Tung said.
At the sametime, links between enterprises in the value chain and ties those in the chainneed to ensure better harmony in terms of benefits and responsibilities,according to the report.
The reportsaid the lack of funding for digital transformation was a problem faced by mostbusinesses, especially small and medium-sized firms, the most common businesstype in Vietnam.
According toVIDA, the report provides an overview of local agriculture by approaching thecore stakeholders of the industry like farmers, businesses and policymakersthrough online surveys and in-depth face-to-face interviews on the digitaltransformation process in Vietnam.
VIDA's goal in the coming years is to develop the annual report to become atotal solution for the digitisation of the agricultural sector.
Tung said the report is hoped to the premise for the development of businessevaluation indicators in the industry.
VIDA’s reportalso recommended building a common and uniform database, developinginfrastructure with the participation of many parties, developing policies tosupport capital investment for businesses, developing an innovation systemfocusing on new technology, and promoting awareness through communication.
Despite the COVID-19pandemic, Vietnam saw a year on year increase of 30.3 percent in agro, forestryand seafood product exports to 22.83 billion USD in the first five months of2021, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)./.
VNA
