Online conference on "Promoting digitalization of the agricultural sector"

Binh Dinh bridge point

 In recent times, the National Assembly and the Government have completed many policies and laws to promote the application of information technology (IT), development of e-Government (e-Government) and digital transformation. In addition, the Agriculture and Rural Development sector has innovated its thinking and implementation methods, closely following the resolutions, directives and conclusions of the Party Central Committee, the State, the Government and the Prime Minister to implement  Deploying drastically, flexibly, creatively, promptly and effectively to promote the development of e-government, towards digital government and digital transformation through accelerating data digitization, applying IT and digital technology to activities, management, direction, production, business, etc. of ministries and branches.

 Accordingly, digitalization and application of IT and digital technology to enhance digital economic value in the agricultural sector have achieved positive results. The implementation of digital transformation has initially been applied in the agricultural industry in the fields of farming, animal husbandry, fisheries, and forestry, bringing very positive results. Many programs and software for garden management and precision agriculture are applied to optimize the use of resources (water, fertilizer...) to gradually convert from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture, creating  creates many opportunities to increase labor productivity, reduce dependence on environmental and weather conditions, and better control epidemics. Tens of thousands of farmers across the country have been effectively applying digital technology to agricultural production.  By December 2023, more than 2 million agricultural households in provinces and cities have been trained in digital skills, nearly 50,000 agricultural products have been posted on e-commerce platforms and thousands of electronic transactions have been completed. The implementation shows the initial effectiveness of the digital transformation of agriculture.  Besides, digital technology businesses also participate in agriculture and rural areas. Just a few months after the National Digital Transformation Program was issued, Loc Troi Group and VNPT Group signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement to work together towards the goal of national digital transformation, quickly bringing the agricultural sector becomes a key economy...

Besides the achieved results, digitalization in agriculture also faces difficulties and obstacles such as: There are currently no separate regulations on data at the Law level, data regulations are still embedded in documents, regulations and guidelines on IT applications;  Data of agencies, organizations, and units under the Ministry is still fragmentary, local, and closed within the scope of the unit.  Meanwhile, human resources working on digital transformation are limited, lacking knowledge, skills and experience in digital transformation; lack of appropriate policy mechanisms to attract, recruit, and reward qualified human resources in Digital Transformation, information safety and security.  In addition, guidelines, norms, and regulations on spending for digital transformation activities do not exist, or have not been introduced or trained, causing officials and civil servants to have difficulty in advising and making proposals. The content and spending level are in accordance with current regulations...

 At the conference, representatives of ministries, branches, industry associations, and businesses stated the current status of innovation in promoting the agricultural digital economy in Vietnam; share experiences in innovation in agricultural digital transformation around the world;  Some solutions to improve the efficiency of innovation activities in promoting the digital economy of the agricultural sector;  Applying the Project "Developing application of population data, electronic identification and authentication to serve national digital transformation in the period 2022 - 2025, with a vision to 2030" (Project 06) to promote digitalization  agricultural industry; solutions to promote the digitalization of agricultural products to meet market requirements; bottlenecks and policy recommendations to encourage businesses and technology cooperatives to participate in promoting digital agriculture... Representatives of localities focused on exchanging advantages and disadvantages and recommending solutions to promote digitalization  in local agriculture.

 Speaking at the conclusion of the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang acknowledged and appreciated the efforts of the Agriculture and Rural Development sector along with organizations, units and localities in implementing digital transformation during  last time.

 Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang requested that the Agriculture and Rural Development sector continue to coordinate with organizations, units and localities to focus on implementing administrative procedure reform; consolidate, synchronize and develop the data information system of the Agriculture and Rural Development sector; Upgrade digital infrastructure to connect databases to each other; Continuously, accurately and promptly update information about the Agriculture and Rural Development sector.

 Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang also proposed that leading IT businesses continue to promote their focal role in implementing digital transformation in agriculture; Reflect recommendations and problems in implementing digital transformation to be promptly resolved by competent authorities./.