Dau Thi Mai Lien, an expert from the Institute for Vietnam Initiatives, said Thailand is a good example in agriculture development. Farm produce processing and the food and stuff sector make up 23 percent of the GDP of the country.

The government of Thailand only plays a guiding role, and enterprises develop new products. The government makes long-term commitments and guides farmers in product traceability, while farmers and businesses commit to make products with international standards. 

Lien said if Vietnam wants to develop hi-tech agriculture, it needs to change its mindset and approach the market more strongly. The advantage of Vietnam over Thailand in developing hi-tech agriculture is the lower cost.

However, the weak point of Vietnam’s agriculture is that its businesses don’t know how to build brands and actively approach markets.

In general, surveying the market is an important step that helps develop agriculture. Surveys all show that modern women spend less time on housework, and that the food and foodstuff market is very large. International institutions say there will be 1.65 billion more consumers by 2050.

According to Lien, Vietnamese businesses need to inverse investment in research and development to diversify their products. Both Vietnam and Thailand have coconuts, but, while Vietnam can only make candies and sell coconut milk, Thailand also uses coconuts to create handicrafts, souvenirs and pictures, and uses all the parts of coconut trees.

She said that Vietnam needs to have leading enterprises in every field and build policies to protect the industries. Leading enterprises are necessary for every business field to drive the economy. Thailand can attract foreign investments thanks to leading enterprises, while Vietnam still doesn’t have enterprises of such stature.

The state’s support and policies are indispensable to develop hi-tech agriculture. In Thailand, enterprises thar invest in hi-tech agriculture and apply new technologies such as blockchain and AI enjoy tax exemption for up to 13 years.

Vietnamese farmers and businesses also need to immediately apply new technologies in agricultural production, for example using drones to water crops, blockchain for product traceability and AI to classify products and apply it in production to improve productivity.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese farmers still hesitate to apply new technologies in production for fear that production costs would be higher and make products less competitive.

Tam An