Using the digital platform as a production-oriented 'life jacket'

Digital transformation is a key area in the development goals of Can Tho City's agricultural sector, which focuses on activities such as: Connecting e-commerce exchanges to create an ecosystem of agricultural products and materials businesses; electronic contracts; production records; identifying entities and production areas; developing data and digital platforms; supplying necessary information about markets, supplies, agricultural products, weather, diseases,...

Recently, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Can Tho City has implemented many solutions to promote the development of digital technology. However, Mr. Tran Thai Nghiem, Deputy Director of the City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, acknowledged that the application of data and technology platforms at the grassroots level still has many difficulties.

In addition, farmers' information technology skills are still limited, production practices or diary recording habits are limited, and the introduction of agricultural product sales on technology platforms still has barriers.

In particular, technology platforms dedicated to the agricultural sector are currently fragmented and lacking data. This makes it difficult for farmers to choose a reliable platform. Therefore, the agricultural industry urgently needs official platforms to update information and act as a "life jacket" to orient production for farmers.

After a long time of studying and researching the usefulness of digital platforms, on November 4, Can Tho City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development invited pioneering digital technology businesses to launch platforms such as chonongsancantho.vn, MobiAgri, "Mang nha nong"... to support training for technical staff and cooperatives in the area. The training program aims to spread useful platforms to users, and at the same time develop data to perfect the platforms.

A typical example is the MobiAgri application developed by MobiFone Telecommunications Corporation. In addition to basic features such as identifying and diagnosing plant diseases; technical data on cultivation and pests; and weather forecast information..., This unit is also coordinating with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Can Tho City to develop the implementing feature of electronic contracts in purchasing agricultural products from farmers in the City.

This electronic contract is signed and stored in digital space and is legal, authenticated and supervised by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Can Tho City.

Recently, the "Mang nha nong" platform developed by the Center for Agriculture Digital Transformation and Statistics (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the Joint development by World Software Technology Joint Stock Company (Worldsoft) and Vietnam Agriculture News has also created good effects, receiving great attention from farmers and cooperatives in Can Tho City.

Mr. Nguyen Ai Huu, General Director of Worldsoft, expressed that the "Mang nha nong" platform has solved a number of fundamental problems for farmers in terms of setting up production plans; providing many options for input materials, helping to optimize prices, reducing costs and increasing profits for farmers.

At the same time, the platform also creates an ecosystem for users to consume and bring products to commercial exchanges; creates a market information exchange channel, applies artificial intelligence to support online inquiries, and updates policy news...Especially, connecting credit institutions, and helping farmers solve capital problems for production in the most convenient way.

According to Mr. Tran Thai Nghiem, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Can Tho City, technical staff are the ones who directly "take action" at the facility. The highest goal that Can Tho City's agricultural industry aims for is for this team to master the skills to operate the features of digital platforms, instalment, and usage regulations, identify problems that need to be solved, and develop a user database. These are lecturers who directly accompany cooperatives and farmers to develop digital platforms in the coming time.

Consequently, it helps farmers accumulate more skills to introduce and promote products on e-commerce platforms and have a strategy to develop agricultural products linked to tourism. Transparency of products and identification of producers on digital platforms is implemented in accordance with the requirements of today's international market.