HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Digitisation of farming is inevitable andVietnam should embrace it to resolve the agricultural paradox of producing morewhile preserving natural resources and to grab the opportunities brought byfree trade agreements, experts have said.

Reports from research organisations said the world population would increase by2.2 billion by 2050 and demand for food would increase by 50 percent.

During this period climate change is expected to reduce harvests by 17 percentwhile arable land will shrink by 20 percent.

The agricultural sector globally and in Vietnam is therefore set to face bigchallenges.

A more resilient food future will rely on sharp increases in agriculturalresearch and development; better alignment of government finance and incentivesfor farmers with long-term, sustainable and climate-smart production; and asteep change in access to information, innovative technologies, and finance toenhance the resilience of millions of small-scale farming households whoselivelihoods are most critically impacted by climate change.

How to increase productivity and secure a sufficient supply of quality foodwhile protecting resources is a big question which has been asked for a longtime.

A possible solution lies in modern technologies like IoT, big data and cloud.

“To enable us to feed a growing world population, it is critical foragriculture to harness technology to become more efficient, productive andsustainable, especially in light of decreasing natural resources includingarable land and water,” Sam Eathington, chief science officer at The Climate Corporationof Bayer, told Viet Nam News on the sidelines of a conference on futurefarming.

“Digital farming solutions enable farmers to make data-driven decisions in realtime, and help them utilise fewer and more precise amounts of resources,including water, labour and crop protection inputs.

“This helps us to grow more with fewer inputs per unit of output.”

Scientists, farmers and authorities in the country have carried out a number ofprogrammes and projects to digitise farming.

The benefits brought by digitisation do not stop at solving theproduce-preserve paradox, but also enable the country to expand exports toother countries at a time when it has signed several trade deals.

Agriculture is one of the sectors to benefit greatly since the EU is the secondlargest market for Vietnamese farm exports such as coffee, cashew nuts andpepper and the two sides have a new trade deal.

Not only will it boost exports and improve the sector’s competitiveness andVietnam’s economic integration, but also bring the opportunity to accessinnovation and technology.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said: “AsEurope is also a high-quality market, Vietnamese agricultural products need tobe more competitive to seize the opportunity.”

Efforts made

The Government is offering a number of incentives to attract investors indigital farming, conferences have been organised to seek solutions, there aretie-ups with science companies to provide tailored solutions to farmers, andtraining classes have been organised to help farmers know about technologies.

The Vietnam Digital Agriculture Association was launched in September toupgrade the technology infrastructure to develop digital farming, connect withand expand markets, identify tailored digital solutions for each cultivationmodel, attract investors, and have human training.

Many prestigious companies and entrepreneurs have already joined it.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that therehad never been any movement in which many companies are pouring investment togreen and high-tech agriculture as well as digital farming.

Many large players including Vingroup, Hoa Phat Group and Thaco Group arebecoming strategic investors in agricultural companies.

Foreign investors and scientists are tying up with Vietnamese companies andbringing advanced know-how to develop digital farming.

Bayer Vietnam, for instance, signed an exclusive agreement with Trung An topromote the use of unmanned aerial systems and provide customised plantprotection services, targeting the export market.

A two-year pilot project began on 200 hectares out of an 800-hectare Trung Anfarm in Kien Giang province last May.

Another solution from the company includes a trait and bioscience technology tomake seeds tolerant to pests like fall army worms, which affect corn. The wormis now a threat, significantly reducing yields all over the world includingVietnam.

The company is also working on a project with some key stakeholders to makeVietnamese agriculture sustainable by enhancing farmers’ capabilities andapplying technology in digital farming./.