Giving identities to Vietnamese agro-products

Removing the ‘fog’ covering agriculture

The Launching Ceremony of “Agriculture and Rural Development Digital Transformation and Implementation of the Information System and Database for the issuance and management of planting area codes” was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the occasion of the agriculture and rural development sector’s Digital Transformation Day (August 19).

“The process of digital transformation helps us activate the market. Digital transformation will support, interact, promote and enhance the value of agro-products. It is not merely a tool to assist the management of the agricultural industry. The value of digital transformation is many times higher than increasing productivity and increasing output”, said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan.

The Minister claimed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development would be able to build a transparent, integrated multi-valued agriculture thanks to digital technology. “We will build brands of agro-product with transparency to remove the agriculture that is ‘ambiguous’ from buyers, sellers to management agencies, ‘ambiguous from the market, quality to origin.”

Over the years the field of cultivation has achieved great achievements. According to statistics, Vietnam currently has over 4.8 million ha of perennial crops. The rice cultivation area accounts for 3.9 million ha, and the dragon fruit cultivation area is nearly 64,200 ha.

Localities have been forming production areas with close links between farmers, cooperatives, processing facilities and product consumption businesses. Many production areas have been granted identification codes to monitor and control the situations concerning production and traceability, thereby improving the overall quality of agricultural products.

However, from an objective view, the scale of production areas is still considered "fragmented and small". Production areas are not fully connected with information between production and the market, especially in the face of increasing demands of domestic and international consumers in terms of traceability, agro-product quality and many more. This requires accelerating the digital transformation of crop fields. The agriculture sector needs to focus on building a database for the issuance and management of planting area codes with dragon fruit, rice and several other key crops in the immediate future to connect and improve efficiency between production, market and consumption.

The growth rate of crop production value reached 2.7% in 2021. Regarding production proportion, cultivation accounted for 44.6% of the total production value of agriculture, forestry and fishery. The export value of agro-products reached over USD 21 billion, up 13.5% compared to 2020.

Giving identities to Vietnamese agro-products through digital transformation

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said that the operation of the Information System and Database for the issuance and management of planting area codes will bring many practical benefits to management agencies, businesses and farmers.

To be more specific, the system will monitor and control situations concerning production; control product quality at source; trace the origin of plant products; support and connect product consumption markets; provide consultation and technical support for farming. Management agencies will be able to issue production directives in a quick and timely manner.

“The establishment of an Information System and Database for the issuance and management of planting area codes is also important in identifying Vietnamese agro-products, contributing to building trust and affirming the brand name of the quality Vietnamese agro-products in the domestic and international markets. This system can bring many economic benefits to farmers, cooperatives and businesses," said Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien.

Up until the present date, the system of granting and managing planting area codes has been constructed on the web as well as mobile application with modules for management agencies, verification officers and registered visitors. As for the initial steps, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has chosen dragon fruit as a subject for pilot implementation.