Most startups with organic agriculture have a short-term vision

According to Dr. Bui Hong Quan, an organic agriculture expert lecturer at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City (IUH), more and more individuals and businesses have started agricultural startups in recent years. Many of them are young people. They care, learn, research, and develop new models and initiatives, especially in organic agriculture.

Mr. Quan said that young people's interest in agriculture shows that they are increasingly aware of their responsibilities and roles in protecting public health, nature, and the environment. It is a very positive aspect of entrepreneurship for young people today.

However, because they still need a comprehensive view of agriculture, many people who start a business with organic agriculture are unsuccessful.

Dr. Quan said that many people starting organic agriculture businesses need more knowledge to start a successful business. For example, some people are very good at farming but need to learn about finance or business administration. To start a successful business in organic agriculture, the founders of a project must not only know about agriculture but also have much other knowledge.

An individual needs to gain full knowledge and understanding of all issues related to organic agriculture, such as agriculture, finance, management, and market. Therefore, to have complete knowledge related knowledge, entrepreneurs must form teams or groups to start a business together, in which each person has strong expertise in one field. However, nowadays, many new startups are the only ones working alone, so it isn't easy to develop, and many projects have even failed.

People who form teams or groups to start a business together tend to find people in the same field to form a team. For example, people who understand agriculture find people who also understand agriculture. People who work in finance look for people who also work in finance. When such groups start a business, the possibility of bankruptcy is very high due to knowledge bias and lack of other relevant knowledge.

In addition, many young people mistakenly believe that organic agriculture profits are quite large before starting a business. Therefore, when starting their business, these people poured money into organic farming. Pouring a lot of money into an organic agricultural project that is not successful can lead to many economic consequences or bring doubt about whether organic agriculture can be done or not.

A mistake many people who are starting a business with organic agriculture are making is needing a long-term business plan. According to Dr. Bui Hong Quan, when starting a business in organic agriculture or green agriculture, most young people have a concise vision, only 1-2 or at most 3 years, but do not have a long-term vision of up to 10 years. Meanwhile, to do organic farming, you must have a long-term strategy to be successful.

Due to a lack of knowledge and misconceptions about profits from organic agriculture, many startups are investing incorrectly and ineffectively. Dr. Quan shared that he is terrified of young people starting organic agriculture businesses too enthusiastically because they keep "burning money" terribly but "burning" it all on things that do not bring value because of a lack of experience in financial management, marketing, and sales.

In June 2020, the Prime Minister approved the Organic Agriculture Development Project for 2020 - 2030. After just over one year of implementation, many effective organic agriculture models have appeared in localities. Although organic products were implemented later than in many countries, the government, ministries, departments, localities, businesses, and farmers have put Vietnam on the list of organic products. The list of countries participating in organic agricultural production is highly vibrant.

In the past few years, Vietnam's organic agriculture has undergone a substantial transformation and achieved significant achievements in productivity and output. Products are increasingly diverse, and production scale is gradually increasing, creating a large volume of products available in large domestic supermarkets and for export. The country has thousands of production facilities converting to organic agriculture to help farmers escape poverty and get rich legitimately in their homeland.

In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has prioritized implementing central agricultural extension projects on organic agricultural production, meeting VietGAP standards. These models will help Vietnamese farmers gradually approach organic agriculture and quickly transform fields, farming, animal husbandry, and aquaculture to meet organic agriculture standards and regulations according to the law trends of Vietnam and the world.