Vietnam still has room for agricultural investment in the processing industry to create new products after harvest for export, according to experts at the international conference on "Smart Agriculture: Potential and Reality" which was held in Hanoi recently.

A drone manufactured by MiSmart, a smart agricultural startup in Vietnam.

Dr. Le Quy Kha, former Deputy Director of the Southern Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, said Vietnam has discussed agriculture 4.0 but in fact it has not done much, while Japan is on the way to agriculture 5.0 through the use of robots and artificial intelligence (AI).

According to a study by Grand View Research, the world spent more than 13 billion USD on technology for productivity monitoring, field mapping, pest control, irrigation management, storage and labor management in 2020.

From now to 2025, drones will be the smart agriculture category with the fastest growth rate (15.38%/year). The other categories forecasted with strong growth in the near future are technology for field management, data management, irrigation management, fertilizers and smart farming.

By 2027, the world will spend 17.5 billion USD on smart agricultural equipment. As for artificial intelligence, this technology is expected to make a great contribution to smart agriculture with the introduction of unmanned plows, milking robots and automatic harvesting robots.

Dr. Le Quy Kha said that smartphones will play an important role in smart agriculture. They will be used to manage data on environmental conditions, weather, the amount of raw materials used for agricultural production, prices, arable land, and market demand for agricultural products.

Vietnamese farmers must play role in smart agriculture

Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of the Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), said that Vietnam's agriculture is the backbone of the country and has international responsibilities. The value of Vietnam's agricultural exports is currently 44 billion USD, up about 22% from 36 billion USD in 2017.

Vietnam wants sustainable agricultural growth. This requires added value from production, processing, market development as well as a digital economy and smart agriculture.

Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of the Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development).

In the process of restructuring Vietnam's agriculture, farmers will play the most important role. Smart agriculture will improve the production efficiency of farmers.

According to Toan, farmers must improve their production capacity, knowledge and digital capabilities to have better farming methods and production organization.

Science, technology and creativity will help Vietnamese farmers play the role of masters for smart agriculture. Policy makers, international agencies, universities must support and stand with farmers in that process.

Each year, Vietnam exports about 6.2 million tons of rice, earning a turnover of 3.1 billion USD. The volume of rice for export is huge but the export value of rice is not commensurate with the potential, Toan said.

The world rice market is worth about 40 billion USD and Vietnam has a lot of room for rice export through strongly investing in the processing industry, creating new products from rice to increase value and conquer the world market.

Vietnam needs to invest in smart agriculture, especially in the processing industry to increase the quality of agricultural products, update market information, build digital infrastructure, reduce logistics costs and production costs.

Vietnam needs to further invest in smart agriculture, especially in the processing industry to increase the quality of agricultural products.

Another issue is the investment cost for smart agriculture. Also, who will support the farmers during that transition?

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is working with experts from the Vietnam Digital Agriculture Association to perform digital transformation in the agricultural sector from a market perspective.

With this approach, every Vietnamese farmer can access applications on their mobile phones to get information about the crop, agricultural extension information, and the market.

Currently, 63% of people in rural areas of Vietnam have access to the Internet. This is an opportunity for Vietnam to develop smart agriculture.

According to this expert, smart agriculture also requires connection and sharing. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has joined the Ministry of Information and Communications to bring agricultural products to e-commerce platforms. This is a way for Vietnamese agricultural products to go to the world and spread more of their values.

Trong Dat

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