Consumers buy Vietnam's dragon fruits at a market in Sydney (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese agricultural sector should find out aright way of approach, consider market as the target and market standards asquality measurement to help agricultural products better meet both domestic andinternational market requirements.
The suggestion was made by Minister, Chairman of theGovernment Office Mai Tien Dung at a Vietnam Economic Forum discussingsolutions to develop trading of Vietnamese farm produce in Hanoi on June 5.
Vietnam has high potential to develop itsagriculture sector as the country has exported to 180 markets worldwide,including many choosy markets. Export turnover of agricultural products isexpected to exceed 40 billion USD this year.
Experts to the forum agreed that new technologiesare key to advancing the agriculture sector in Vietnam, as they can boostproducts’ value to make them more competitive on the global market.
The application of technologies in the sector isneeded as the market has shown rising demand for clean products with traceableorigins.
According to Terry Chan, Chairman of Hong KongE-commerce Supply Chain Association (HKeCSC), blockchain technologies should bedeployed as much as possible in agriculture to connect Vietnamese products tothe world market.
As e-commerce is developing rapidly and new tradingplatforms are used across the world, agricultural outputs must meet customers’demands and ensure the quality of the whole production chain, he said.
The Vietnamese agricultural sector is trying tointegrate into the world’s market, but it has encountered some challengesregarding product quality, supply chains and transparency of the product, Chansaid.
The sector should propose the Government allowadvanced technologies to be applied to resolve existing issues and make safe,high-quality, standardised and traceable products, said Vu Truong Ca, chairmanof the management board of Lina Network.
Though the government has been giving strong supportto the agriculture sector and has issued policies to help farmers, the sectorhas yet to meet the market requirements, he said.
Blockchain technology is strong enough to change theworld in the future. It is currently in the early stages, similar to theinternet 25 years ago, so Vietnam is capable of exploiting this technology andapplying it in the agriculture sector, Ca stated.
According to him, Vietnam has big advantages inmathematics and technology, proven by its high rankings in international mathcompetitions. As the whole world has the same starting point in thistechnology, Vietnam could take the lead.
Dao Ngoc Chien, Deputy Director of the HighTechnology Department under the Ministry of Science and Technology, said thatthe ministry will accompany businesses in this issue.
He said his department is drafting a developmentplan and submitting it to the ministry this month. The draft plan contains fourtopics: evaluation of the fourth industrial revolution and its impacts in somekey sectors, and key technological applications for economic industries.
Dairy maker TH Group is a typical example ofsuccessfully using high-tech applications in businesses, said Vo Van Quang, DeputyGeneral Director of the Bac A Joint Stock Commercial Bank.
He said that the bank in 2009 started funding dairymaker TH Group to develop cattle farms. However, TH Group was able to applyIsraeli technologies for cattle raising, from grass development to attachingchips to cows to keep track of cattle’s health and productivity. Thus the dairyproducer’s outputs meet standards in domestic and overseas markets.
To develop farm produce production, Minister MaiTien Dung stressed the need to solve land-related issues.
Farmers should let out their agricultural land tobusinesses in order to facilitate labour restructuring and the application oftechnologies in production in rural areas, he suggested.
According to him, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucwill chair a national conference on hi-tech agriculture and land accumulationin late June.-VNA
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