VietNamNet Bridge - Many apps have been developed for intelligent farming which aim to change the way farmers work.

GMA, a green app developer, focuses on building up software solutions to solve the problem of information and communication between farmers and local authorities. 

It has been used in 11 districts and towns of An Giang province.

The operation policy of the solution is simple: farmers will receive price quotations about different kinds of farm produce from the province thanks to the app. The quotes are from officers of the An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, collaborators and users.

The operation policy of the solution is simple: farmers will receive price quotations about different kinds of farm produce from the province thanks to the app. The quotes are from officers of the An Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, collaborators and users.

After receiving the input data, the system will analyze the prices based on prestigious suppliers – those who submit the prices.

Farmers can also access the data system or communicate directly with professional officers. The system provides the data about 300 types of plants, livestock and 10,000 questions about related diseases and epidemics.

Nong Nghiep An Giang (An Giang Agriculture) – the app developed by GMA – now has 18,000 regular users a month, or one-third of total farmers in the area. 

Tran Viet Quan, the founder of GMA, said: “The surveys conducted in many localities found that farmers decide what plants to grow and what livestock to raise just by feeling and this is just a game of chance. Therefore, providing information solutions via mobile phones is a reasonable solution."

According to Nhip Cau Dau Tu, there are many startups which provide IoT (Internet of Things) solutions in agriculture, including MimosaTek and Hachi, but GMA is the only firm which provides solutions to the government.

What GMA is doing with An Giang is not new. This solution has been implemented in many countries such as Japan, USA, Israel and South Korea, where information technology is widely applied in agriculture.

According to Google, Vietnam has 45.8 million 3G users, while the number of smartphone users has exceeded feature phone users. Second, in developed agriculture, data digitalization will provide big benefits to involved parties.

Vietnam is among four countries in Asia Pacific to record the highest growth rate of smartphone users, according to a report on mobile advertising in Asia Pacific in the second quarter of 2015 released by Opera Mediaworks.

Quan emphasized that agriculture digitalization will only succeed if it is supported by state management agencies.

Commercial banks said they have reserved trillions of dong for programs to fund hi-tech agriculture projects after the Prime Minister instructed banks to design a VND100 trillion credit package for the agriculture sector.

RELATED NEWS

High-tech agriculture should suit VN conditions

Hi-tech agriculture rides strong wave of domestic investment

Chi Mai