Digital transformation starting from households

On August 19th, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh has attended the APEC Ministerial Online Summit on food security.

In regard to the topic of digitization and innovation of the food and foodstuff system in the context of the global economy affected by Covid-19, Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh contributed three ideas drawn out from Vietnamese practice in the process of recovering and developing sustainable agriculture.

Firstly: Connecting the entire supply chain from production to distribution and consumption, narrowing the gap in space and time.

According to Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh, the disruption in goods circulation creates motivation to develop digital platforms. In the future, digital management tools will open up more opportunities to shorten commodity inspection and clearance times, and reduce food loss during transportation.

Secondly: Constructing a database on the production of goods, food and foodstuff for each economy and the whole region.

According to the Deputy Minister, the data needs to be compiled with multi-index statistics, including the movement of capital, technology and labor, forecast production and trade trends in the context of epidemics, natural disasters, or new food consumption trends. This is a measure to counter the instability of production inputs, such as labor and climate change.

Thirdly: Promoting the application of digital transformation, 4.0 technology right from the level of farming households and SMEs. Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh emphasized that this is the key task of Vietnam's agricultural industry, towards the establishment of a big data database.

Vietnam's aim is that by 2025, about 75-80% of businesses and households will take part in digital applications and advanced science in production, trade and agricultural services provision. The agricultural sector is also promoting the construction of the Food Innovation Hub, and looks forward to receiving support and experiences from APEC economies and other international cooperation mechanisms.

Expressing his gratitude towards the initiatives and contributions of the Vietnamese MARD, Mr. Damien O'Connor, New Zealand Minister of Trade, and Chairman of the APEC Summit on August 19th, said that the goal of APEC is to become a leading region in ensuring food security. To do so, the organization will focus on the sustainability of economies, first and foremost on food security.

Ms. Rachel Taulelei, Chairwoman of ABAC NGO, highlighted the role of APEC and emphasized the slogan "Leave no one behind" in the implementation of food and foodstuff systems. She also had had her focus on the role of the private sector in APEC’s long-term development orientation, and suggested that the governments of the countries commit with great efforts, both in terms of trade liberalization and the movement of international commodities.

Representatives of countries attending the APEC Summit including the Philippines, Malaysia, and Japan... promised to concentrate on digital technologies and digital transformation, and at the same time committed to developing many supportive policies to build close relationships with private sectors and research institutes. From there, the nations will establish early warning systems to help mitigate and prevent natural disasters.