MARD must raise the banner of national digital transformation

Editor Desk: On June 18th, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung gave an “unprepared” speech at the Online Conference “Digital Transformation in the field of Agriculture and Rural Development”. The inspirational speech made Minister Le Minh Hoan said that key leaders of the MARD should "hold their breath" and listen.

Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper (VAN) summarizes some comments. Article title is set by VAN.

Digital transformation’s resistance mainly comes from those on top

For digital transformation, those behinds can still finish first, as digital transformation can give changes to the positions and rankings. In digital transformation, who goes first can have more opportunities. Where and what issue has the most prolonged difficulties will be the most effective, the most successful.

Digital transformation makes it easier to solve big and difficult problems than to solve small and easy ones. An organization's digital transformation drag is mainly caused by those on top, not the employees, because the organization's employees and customers always benefit from digital transformation.

One electronic trade platform is enough to solve farmer’s difficulties, but it must be capable of connecting every farmer and consumers. They will put their products on the platform, and their individual values will be wholeheartedly recognized: the brand, the origin, the seeds, the soil, also the value from how each household take care and plant the trees.

The platform also connects farmers with seed and fertilizer suppliers. The electronic platform ensures the quality of seed, fertilizer, origin not faked, and the price being reasonable. Vietnamese technologies and digital enterprises are ready to realize an e-commerce platform for farmers.

Farmer’s other difficulty is that they are lacking mobile signal and means of internet access, while each household must have at least one smartphone and one fiber optic internet connection.

Currently, in the whole country, there are only 2,000 villages left without a mobile signal, accounting for 2%. The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) is directing network operators to complete coverage this year, until June 2022 at the latest. Previously, the goal was set until 2030, but now shortened to before 2025. If the MARD joins in, it can be completed before 2023. This is the first condition of agricultural digital transformation.

Ask, ask, and ask…

What if a child or grandchild just in middle school has been taught by teachers how to go online to support parents and grandparents on an e-commerce platform? Is it possible to reach 100% of trained agricultural workers by 2025?

The farmer's difficulty is always the distance from the city. They do not have access to high-quality education for their children, they do not have access to high-quality health care. Narrowing this gap is the advantage of digital technology and digital transformation.

These digital technology platforms are basically ready and have been put into use, the remaining problem is popularity. So does the MARD consider this popularization as their business? In my opinion, there is no one better than this Ministry in popularizing digital technology applications to improve people's lives. The MIC will accompany the MARD in this task.

Why can the Japanese do it?

We always talk about the farmers’ bananas having problems without a brand and clear origin.

But the Japanese can do it. It can be the same type of melon, persimmon, peach, but the price varies dozens of times depending on which province, which piece of land, which family they’re from. And if there is an auction, the price will totally be a different story. Putting the brand into every fruit, every village, every garden, every household is possible with Blockchain technology.

There are many other things that can be done for people based on technology, based on changing mindsets, changing the ways of thinking. It all depends on our imagination. Only when each banana has an origin and is fully recognized for what has been involved in creating it, will the lives of farmers really change.

The countryside contains a lot of great pain

Digital transformation is a learning process. One way to execute effective digital transformation is to see what and how other countries have successfully applied, and then apply it to Vietnam.

In a world that is changing fast, complex and unpredictable, no one dares to claim to be the best. But the person who knows what he does best will be the best.

It's the one who learns.

And the best learners are those who both know-and-not-know. That is, people who know but are willing to re-perceive the things they already know.

The MARD together with the MIC will work as a know-and-not-know pair to excel in digital transformation for agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

With 60-70% of Vietnam's population being farmers, they will be the one who decides the success of Vietnam's digital transformation.

Speaking of which, I suddenly thought: “Is the story of digital technology and digital transformation a story of the countryside surrounding the city?” It means to do digital transformation in rural areas first, because there is more pain here, great pain. Because digital transformation can bring more practical benefits here. Because this place is our origin, the place where we return when facing difficulties. We seek the countryside when we’re in trouble, so why when we are not in trouble, when we have the conditions, we did not invest in that place, did nothing for it?

If we look back at the history of Vietnam, success always comes from the countryside surrounding the city. Such is the war against foreign invaders. Losing it and then regaining it is the same. Innovation is the same. Agriculture has successfully innovated first, and later become the inspiration for the whole country.

And so, The MARD must raise the banner of national digital transformation. Things that you find difficult while working, such as technology, platform, application, who does it well, then don't do it but transfer it to the MIC. What you find easy to do, such as posing issues, difficulties, problems, popularize good things for people to know and use, are actually the most difficult things that no one can do except you.