What solutions help agriculture escape the "rescue" situation?

Many agricultural products applying scientific and technological achievements were introduced on the sidelines of the conference.

That is the opinion of many agricultural experts and business representatives at the workshop on the topic: High-tech agriculture, problems and solutions, organized by the Vietnam Academy of Agriculture (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development).

The story of rescuing pork, watermelon, fresh ginger, and most recently radish and kohlrabi, heated up the discussion forum at the workshop as delegates analyzed and proposed technological solutions to address this situation.

Applying information technology to connect production with the market

Mr. Dao Ngoc Nam, Director of An Viet Agricultural Investment and Services Joint Stock Company, said that Vietnam has many agricultural products that can be produced and supplied in large quantities. However, the difficulty is that the land area is fragmented and the farming level of farmers is not uniform. Enterprises that want to control the quality and origin of agricultural products must join hands with farmers in farming and apply science and technology to guide, monitor and control the quality of agricultural products.

According to Mr. Nam, the story of good harvest but low price is a characteristic of agriculture, when products are seasonal. This is due to the current distribution system still having many shortcomings. Consumers have to pay too high compared to the actual price, while there is no guarantee of product quality.

“Agriculture applying information technology in tracing the origin of products is considered an indispensable factor in building distribution channels for agricultural products,” Mr. Nam emphasized.

Sharing the same view, Professor Do Kim Chung, Vietnam Academy of Agriculture, said that one of the current weaknesses of agriculture is the lack of connection between production and the market, leading to many agricultural products having to call on the community for rescue.

Vietnam, a country of 95 million people, currently has a great demand for clean agricultural products, requiring agricultural products to be increasingly delicious in quality and beautiful in appearance, and this will be a large market for agricultural products applying high technology and smart technology.

According to Professor Do Kim Chung, if information technology applications are widely used, farms can easily search for and approach their direct customers, who are consumers, and build their own sales systems, without depending on intermediary distribution units.

Market knowledge training for farmers

According to the delegates, Vietnam’s agriculture with over 42 million fragmented fields today can hardly succeed if high-tech agriculture is applied on a large scale. Meanwhile, each region has the advantage of developing its own unique agricultural products.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan, Director of the Vietnam Academy of Agriculture, said that the current context requires changing the training program for farmers, helping them access scientific knowledge and technology applied to agricultural production, producing the highest quality products, meeting market demand.

“To transfer technology, farmers must have knowledge. To do that, we must help farmers access new technologies and then apply them in practice,” Ms. Lan said.

According to Ms. Lan, regarding human resource training for the industry, the Vietnam Academy of Agriculture prioritizes inspiring passion and orienting students to study and learn about high-tech agriculture, contributing to improving farmers' capacity in management experience, business, and market research.

"Currently, the Vietnam Academy of Agriculture is collaborating with the Cooperative Alliance to coordinate training programs for farmers, bringing young intellectuals to participate in local agricultural development programs," said Ms. Lan.

Phan Hau