Breakthrough technology to "position" Vietnamese agricultural products

Last time, the application of technology in agricultural production has brought about remarkable results. Picture: Nguyen Thanh.

The strength of agricultural products

Recognizing the agricultural sector in general and the export of agricultural products in particular, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan, director of the Department of Agro-product Processing and Market Development (MARD), said that Vietnam is a country that converges on agricultural potential. The evidence is that in recent years, Vietnam has had a surplus in agriculture. Vietnam's agricultural products have been exported to 180 countries in the world. Particularly for vegetables and fruits, in 2003 the export turnover was only 105 million USD, by 2016 it reached 1.5 billion USD and in 2017, it was 3.5 billion USD. This year, vegetables and fruits sector has set a target of US $ 3.5 billion. "The potential of Vietnam's agriculture is very big, but we still have a lot of issues to deal with, especially with the leading private companies for agriculture" Mr Toan said.

Around the issue of agricultural development, Mr Tran Thanh Hai, Senior Executive Vice President of Central Group (Thailand), commented: Vietnam is blessed with rich farming land from North to South. Agriculture is considered as the key to national development. In recent years, with the determination for innovation, besides producing to meet the domestic demand, Vietnam also exports a large amount of agricultural products, now ranks as one of the top five export countries in the world for products such as rice, coffee, black pepper, cashew nuts, southern rubber, ...

As a specialist in agriculture for many years, Dr. Dang Kim Son, former Director of the Rural Development Policy and Strategy Institute under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, emphasized: "at the beginning of integration Vietnam got a trade surplus with agricultural products. Even in the difficult economic crisis of 2008, export of agricultural products still reached a record. This proves that Vietnam has advantages in agricultural products, and if it is promoted, this is a good chance to develop agricultural products" Mr Son said.

Mr. Son said that in the international market, the demand is changing drastically, especially in developing countries. As the world's population grows, the demand for grains, milk, vegetables, meat ... has increased dramatically. This creates conditions and opportunities for Vietnam’s export trade. In Southeast Asia, Vietnam and Thailand have the best advantages.

Deeper integration is the bigger challenge

Vietnam's economy is increasingly integrated with the world economy. In that integration, agricultural goods, forestry and aquaculture, we can expect cuts in tariffs, but many non-tariff barriers have to be overcome. According to Mr Son, this is a significant challenge for Vietnamese agricultural products. In addition, the problem of ensuring food safety and hygiene by Vietnamese enterprises is weak. The capacity to demonstrate quality can not meet the needs of the market. "In addition, the content of science and technology is very weak, productivity is low. Vietnam is facing an institutional challenge because there are many governing bodies and too many regulations that lead to difficulties for tracing the origin of agricultural products," Mr Son said.

Regarding the above issue, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai said that Vietnam had a lot of success in increasing the export of agricultural products to the world, highly appreciated the ability to supply goods in bulk, but the quality of product is still a challenge. In addition, Vietnamese goods are mainly exported without a trade mark. If we don’t make a difference, Vietnam will lose the advantage of exporting agricultural products.

Besides, Mr Hai stressed, many Vietnamese companies do not understand their partners and the market thoroughly, causing export goods to breach some regulations in the international market and meet clearance difficulties. In addition, connecting with the consumer market and solving logistical processes are also a problem. "Enterprises should focus on researching the market, promote in processing, packaging ... to increase profits when exporting and take the opportunity to invest sustainably," Mr Hai said.

Breakthrough technology application

How to increase quality, reduce costs, increase competitiveness for exporting agricultural goods? Responding to this question, many experts said the key is to promote with the breakthrough application of information technology in agricultural production.

Mr Ung The Lam, Head of the Fruit and Vegetable Exporting Group, shared: "In my experience, when applying technology to agriculture, everything is of a standard and clear. Based on that we can find what is wrong and correct it. For Vietnamese farmers, in the past, their purpose was to make a living for themselves and their families so they only wished to sell the product without thinking of any standards. Currently, when applying technology to agricultural production, they have to apply standards to be able to export products to the market. Accordingly, when they produce according to any standard they will sell at the corresponding price. For example, the products manufactured under the VietGAP standard will sell at a different price compared with other products ... In other words, the changes when applying technology help people understand that when conforming to standards, how their corresponding income is adjusted, everything is transparent," Mr Lam analyzed.

Speaking about the application of technology to product chains and the way technology is deployed to ensure the quality of output in the agricultural sector, Terry Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong E-Commerce Supply Chain Association commented that, "Vietnam's agriculture is entering the world's markets, but there are still some problems in terms of product quality, supply chain as well as transparency of product. In order to deal with these issues, it is necessary to promote and develop the application of blockchain technology in agriculture so we can quickly connect with major markets in the world as Alibaba has done. Alibaba has been very successful in applying this technology."

From the perspective of the state management agency, Mr. Dao Ngoc Chien, Deputy Director of High Technology Department, Ministry of Science and Technology stated: the application of Blockchain technology in tracing product’s origin is necessary. However, the application of technology must also incorporate many other factors. Ministry of Science and Technology will soon deploy the related plan and accompany enterprises in this field. Discussing the issue of applying industrial revolution 4.0 in many areas of production, including agriculture, Mr Chien added: "The Ministry is being assigned a focal point for promoting the 4.0 technology revolution. We are building a draft and will submit to a higher level this month with 4 contents, including: 4.0 revolutionary evaluation in some key areas, digital transformation, development of core applications in technology and supporting credit for high technology enterprises. These are all designed in the chain," Mr Chien said.