At the headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the conference was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, and representatives of leaders from various ministries, sectors, localities, and information technology enterprises.
This was the first conference organized under the directive of the Prime Minister in the 2024 activity plan of the National Committee on Digital Transformation. It aligned with the national digital transformation theme for 2024: "Developing the Digital Economy with Four Pillars: IT Industry, Digitalization of Economic Sectors, Digital Governance, and Digital Data - Key Drivers for Rapid and Sustainable Socio-Economic Development."
The conference aimed to assess the current state and bottlenecks of digitalization and the application of digital technology in agriculture, share experiences and practical models in agricultural digital transformation, and identify solutions to overcome obstacles and promote faster and more effective digitalization in the sector.
Agriculture has always been a strong foundation and an indispensable economic pillar, ensuring food security and providing essential products for the people's livelihood. In recent years, the agricultural sector has proactively and vigorously implemented digital transformation, especially applying digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, data management, IoT, and automation into production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products. These technologies have increased labor productivity, enhanced efficiency, ensured food safety, protected the environment, and boosted the competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products.
However, the process of digitalization in agriculture, from central to local levels, still faces many barriers and challenges. The proportion of the digital economy in agriculture is still far below the government’s target of 10% by 2025. Agriculture is one of the sectors with the most data, yet the collection rate remains low. Digital transformation is still new to local leaders and especially to farmers. Notably, Vietnamese agricultural exports must meet strict traceability requirements from importing countries.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan noted that in the context of globalization and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the agricultural sector has actively and vigorously implemented digital transformation in recent years.
Applying digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, data management, IoT, and automation in production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products has increased labor productivity, enhanced efficiency, ensured food safety, protected the environment, and boosted the competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products.
Recently, the MARD has collaborated with the Ministry of Information and Communications to "decode" specialized digital transformation concepts in agriculture, distinguish between information technology and digital transformation, and develop basic and specific solutions for digital transformation in agriculture.
Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of the Center for Digital Transformation and Agricultural Statistics (MARD), stated that in the online public services of MARD, a set of public services has been integrated into a common technology platform to streamline administrative procedures.
Regarding data development, the ministry regularly updates and operates specialized databases on crop production, livestock, forestry, fisheries, irrigation, and disaster prevention.
In irrigation, a digital transformation platform has been developed for directing and managing water supply for livelihoods, production, and ensuring the safety of dams and reservoirs.
In crop production, some enterprises, cooperatives, and households have adopted automatic irrigation systems, drip irrigation, and automatic temperature regulation in greenhouses and net houses, contributing to labor cost savings, water conservation, and increased crop productivity.
In livestock, some farms have implemented sensor systems to control the microclimate in barns, automate feeding and watering, and manage and monitor livestock and animal origins using software. Technologies like IoT, Blockchain, and bioinformatics have been applied in medium and large-scale livestock farms.
In the fisheries sector, journey monitoring systems and Vnfishbase software have been applied in fishing to manage fishing vessels and assist fishermen during marine operations. IoT technology has been used to measure, monitor, and supervise water quality automatically 24/7, measure river salinity, and indicate saltwater intrusion timing.
For agricultural product consumption, over 600 agricultural cooperatives have participated in the sanocop.vn trading platform, connecting export consumption to markets such as Japan, the UK, France, the Netherlands, South Korea, Thailand, and China. Hundreds of Vietnamese agricultural products have been listed on reputable e-commerce platforms, achieving considerable sales revenue.
Statistics from localities show that by the end of April 2024, over 2 million farming households across provinces and cities had been trained in digital skills, nearly 50,000 agricultural products had been listed on e-commerce platforms, and thousands of electronic transactions had been conducted, demonstrating the initial effectiveness of agricultural digital transformation.
Nguyen Hoai Nam, Deputy Secretary - General of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, shared that digital transformation could help seafood enterprises reduce costs by 7-25%. Meeting customer requirements and certification standards becomes significantly easier with digital applications.
At the meeting, localities recommended that the government approve the agricultural digital transformation project soon. The MARD should quickly issue agricultural data structures and mechanisms and policies to support digital enterprises participating in promoting agricultural digital transformation and develop digital maps of crop areas for soil and land management.
The MARD also needs to guide localities in effectively implementing the contents of Project 06 in agriculture, enhance training for localities to improve access to information technology, and digital marketing skills on e-commerce platforms, according to local recommendations.
Digital technology enterprises expressed a desire to access state digital transformation projects, including greenhouse gas inventory and management.
Mr. Duong Trong Hai, a representative of VNPT, stated that to apply and develop digital agriculture, the investment should be directed towards leading agricultural enterprises ready for digitalization. These enterprises will lead cooperatives and farmers in digital transformation, creating a digital market.
"Digital transformation is not about technology but about digital data and specialization. Policies should support leading enterprises. Currently, there are about 20,000 agricultural cooperatives. VNPT is ready to share difficulties with these cooperatives," Mr. Duong Trong Hai said.
Recognizing the value that digital transformation brings, Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam, Deputy Secretary - General of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, noted that digital transformation could help seafood enterprises reduce costs by 7-25%. Meeting customer requirements and certification standards becomes significantly easier with digital applications.
Despite the achievements, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep acknowledged the challenges and difficulties in agricultural digital transformation.
Firstly, there are currently no specific regulations on data at the legal level. Data regulations are still embedded in documents and guidelines on information technology applications. Data from agencies, organizations, and units under the ministry are scattered, isolated, and confined within unit boundaries. These entities have not proactively and voluntarily opened their data for exploitation and use due to concerns about data completeness and accuracy.
Secondly, human resources for digital transformation are limited, lacking knowledge, skills, and experience in digital transformation.
Thirdly, there is a lack of synchronization in implementing infrastructure, platform software, shared platforms, and interconnected, shared, and integrated databases.
Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep suggested that the National Assembly should research and soon amend the Information Technology Law, and issue the Data Law and Digital Transformation Law to ensure a comprehensive legal framework for digital transformation. In the short term, the government should quickly develop and guide controlled pilot implementation plans to create a legal framework allowing investment, development, and application of new digital technologies in various sectors not yet covered by law.
Alongside the National Assembly's legislation, the government should consider developing decrees, circulars, and guidelines on e-government and digital transformation to ensure synchronization and timely application in practice.
Urgent Identification of Fishing Vessels for Management and Combating Illegal Fishing
In his speech, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang acknowledged and praised the agricultural sector's efforts in digital transformation, which have yielded encouraging initial results, contributing to the sector's recent achievements.
The Deputy Prime Minister also pointed out the institutional bottlenecks for agricultural development and digital transformation in agriculture that need to be resolved. The digital infrastructure in agriculture is still weak. The full-process public service rate is only 16%, while the government's target is 80%. The rate of collected and connected data is not high. There is still a shortage of digital transformation personnel, and the digital economy's contribution to GDP remains modest.
The Deputy Prime Minister urged the MARD to focus on promoting digital transformation, simplifying administrative procedures to facilitate farmers and businesses. Especially for farmers, administrative procedures must be even simpler.
The ministry should integrate the Public Service Portal and the ministry’s electronic one-stop information system into a single centralized administrative procedure resolution system, connect it with the National Public Service Portal as per the schedule, and connect and share data with the National Population Database, ensuring system security and safety. The identification of fishing vessels for management and combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing must be urgent.
For database construction, the Deputy Prime Minister required the MARD to focus on building, standardizing, and regularly updating sector data to be accurate, comprehensive, timely, and particularly easy to understand and apply. Developing digital infrastructure and digital platforms in agriculture is also crucial.
Given the wide management scope and large data volume, the ministry should prioritize database construction and thoroughly implement it, emphasized the Deputy Prime Minister.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang also called on digital technology enterprises like VNPT, Viettel, and FPT to actively support the agricultural sector's digital transformation.
Regarding the recommendations from localities and businesses, the Deputy Prime Minister directed the MARD and the Ministry of Information and Communications to acknowledge, resolve, and report to the government and the Prime Minister on issues beyond MARD authority.
Van Tho (Hai Dang translated)