Hà Nội applies IT to enhance value of agricultural products

A worker produces anti-counterfeit stamps at Tiên Dương Organic Agricultural Cooperative in Hà Nội. Photo Nguyễn Hoàng

Despite production and market difficulties due to the pandemic and climate change, many districts, firms and organisations in Hà Nội's agricultural sector have remained strong thanks to the application of science and information technology.

It has helped them improve their products’ value and meet the technical requirements of import markets.

In the past few years, Hà Nội's agriculture sector has implemented many programmes and solutions to support businesses and cooperatives to promote the application of information technology in the production and processing of agricultural products, which have brought many benefits, such as increasing the product value, food safety management and product information transparency.

Trần Sỹ Hùng, Director of Nghĩa Minh Mushroom Cooperative in Đan Phượng District, said his cooperative had applied information technology in production, processing and packaging besides registering QR codes on products’ stamps and packages so that consumers can check all production stages.

On average, the cooperative provides 30-40 tonnes of mushrooms of all kinds annually, which helps its members earn VNĐ500-600 million a year.

Doãn Văn Thắng, Director of Vân Nam Agricultural Cooperative in Phúc Thọ District, said with the support of competent authorities, his cooperative's products had traceability stamps and a collective brand logo named Vân Nam Banana so consumers can recognise and be assured of the product quality.

Phạm Thị Lý, Director of the Centre for Enterprise Integration and Development in Thanh Xuân District, said the centre had cooperated with Hà Nội's agriculture sector to support cooperatives and enterprises in applying Check VN technology to establish data, digitise, monitor, control, secure and authenticate information on products that are eligible for food hygiene and safety.

The centre had also rapidly helped connect manufacturers and managers with consumers through QR codes and Check VN application software.

The traceability of agricultural products is gradually becoming an inevitable trend and a mandatory requirement, allowing domestic and foreign consumers to have complete information about all production stages. Photo Nguyễn Hoàng

Head of the Hà Nội Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Quality Assurance Department, Nguyễn Thị Thu Hằng, said to be transparent about product information, Hà Nội had supported, guided and granted management accounts to 3,109 agricultural production facilities in the city.

The department also completed transparent information management procedures for 653 enterprises in Hà Nội and 238 enterprises in other provinces and cities with 10,952 sets of traceability codes for agricultural products eligible for food safety.

“The application of information technology in food safety management not only helps competent authorities to receive timely consumers’ feedback but also capture and analyse market needs to plan for product quality improvement to develop a clean food market that meets the consumption needs of Vietnamese people and foreigners living in Hà Nội,” Hằng said.

The application of information technology in agricultural production and food safety management had gradually contributed to preventing and reducing food poisoning cases and bringing many benefits to consumers, she said.

To improve the efficiency of the information technology application in agricultural production and food safety management, Lê Văn Tám, Director of Sông Hồng Agricultural Cooperative in Đông Anh District, proposed that Hà Nội needs a policy to fund cooperatives in putting modern technologies into the management of agricultural products’ preservation and processing, which will link agricultural product consumption chains and distribution channels.

Nguyễn Thạc Hùng, Vice Chairman of Đan Phượng District People's Committee, said besides focusing on the safe agricultural production development, Đan Phượng District would deploy information technology application solutions in production, trading and processing of agricultural products.

In addition, the district will review, appraise and grant codes to participate in the Hà Nội traceability electronic information system for eligible agricultural production and processing establishments.

According to Nguyễn Ngọc Sơn, Deputy Director of Hà Nội Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Hà Nội will promote the application of information technology in food traceability and encourage trade centres, supermarkets and food stores to prioritise trading in items with traceable codes, barcodes and stamps.

Sơn said localities should continually organise training courses to improve their employees' use of food safety management software.

Supermarkets should have staff to guide consumers on tracing food's origin through information technology applications such as smartphones.

Sơn expects the measures will help increase the application of information technology in the production stages so that consumers can be assured of getting the right agricultural products. — VNS