Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam looks to connect 5 million farming households toe-commerce platforms this year, which would create breakthroughs in thedevelopment of the digital economy in the agriculture sector, Deputy Ministerof Information and Communications Pham Anh Tuan said.

This was thehighlight of the ministry’s plan approved in late July to provide support tofarmers to take their products online and promote the development of thedigital economy in the agriculture and rural sector.

At an onlineconference last week to implement the plan, Tuan said that the plan aimed toconnect farming households with e-commerce platforms to promote theirproducts, expand markets and encourage consumption of farm produce.

Tuan askedlocal departments of agriculture and rural development, and industry and tradeto cooperate with two selected post companies Vietnam Post and Viettel Post todevelop detailed plans for connecting local farmers with e-commerce platformsthis month.

Tuan said that5 million farming households would be connected to e-commerceplatforms by the end of this year, which would create the first breakthrough indeveloping the digital economy for the agriculture sector, adding thatsupport would continue to be provided in following years.

Nguyen Trong Duong,Deputy Director of the ministry’s Department of Enterprise Management, saidthat it was important to make farmers see the benefits of bringing theirproducts online.

For a biggergoal, the ministry aimed to connect a total of 13 million farming andindividual business households to e-commerce platforms, Duong said.

Statistics ofthe Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Agricultural ProductsProcessing and Development Department showed that to date, only around 8,000farming households with more than 14,500 agricultural products wereconnected to e-commerce platforms.

E-commerceplatforms provided a good channel for distributing agricultural products,especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A clearexample could be seen from the consumption of lychee of COVID-hit Bac Giang provincein May. More than 8,000 tonnes of lychee was sold in 63 provinces and citiesnationwide via two platforms Postmart and Voso.

According toTuan, the volume of agricultural products sold via e-commerce platforms remainedmodest. However, e-commerce platforms would not only play a role in selling theproducts but also in promoting the products and expanding markets, especiallyin the context of the COVID-19 pandemic./.