What is difficult about digital transformation in the production, processing, and consumption of organic agricultural products in Lam Dong?

Digital transformation in agriculture is taking place strongly

At the conference, Mr. Do Minh Phuong – Center for Digital Transformation and Agricultural Statistics (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) said that the rapid urbanization process globally has created a need to promote development. agriculture in urban areas to ensure food security and provide enough food sources for urban residents.

However, agricultural development in urban areas always faces many limitations such as lack of arable land, environmental pollution due to emissions, domestic wastewater, traffic… Production conditions in urban areas is also very different from traditional agricultural production in rural areas. Along with the impacts of climate change, productivity, product quality and economic efficiency of urban agriculture have been reduced.

“According to the 2022 report of the General Statistics Office, the proportion of agricultural production enterprises applying digital technology in Vietnam has only reached 3.8%. This number shows the great potential of digital transformation. in agriculture in general and urban agriculture in particular in Vietnam when applying new technologies such as IoT, AI, and robotic automation, the application of digital transformation and AI has become an urgent requirement , to promote the sustainable development of urban agriculture, contributing to ensuring an adequate supply of food and safe food for urban areas in Vietnam” – Mr. Phuong said.

To develop high-tech urban agricultural production models applying digital transformation and AI, Mr. Phuong believes that it is necessary to develop a smart greenhouse model; Build automatic irrigation and fertilization systems and monitor and detect diseases. At the same time, localities need to build a product traceability system and form a production and supply chain of organic food for urban areas.

Mr. Phuong also said that in Vietnam, the process of applying digital transformation and AI to the agricultural sector in general and urban agriculture in particular is still limited and not popular. Although there have been a number of high-tech application models piloted in big cities such as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi (growing hydroponic vegetables in greenhouses, smart greenhouses applying sensor systems and automatic control…), but the scale is still small and fragmented.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Tran Van Tuan (Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) said that by the end of 2022, the entire Lam Dong province will have about 26 businesses accessing the application of IoT technology and smart management GIS technology. and pest forecasting, electronic traceability, LED technology; 13 enterprises are recognized as “high-tech agricultural enterprises”; 90 cooperatives and farms applying IoT technology and organic farming; 182 linked chains with the participation of 201 businesses, cooperatives and nearly 17,000 farmer households…

In particular, there have been many farms with revenue of 5 – 8 billion VND/ha/year; Growing high-class flowers brings in revenue of 24 billion VND/ha/year.

One of the typical examples of successful digital transformation applications in Lam Dong is the Organic Da Lat dairy farm, Tu Tra commune (Don Duong district). Here, food for cows of each age group has its own formula, managed by a modern diet management system, to monitor, measure and ensure food quality in each stage, for each animal. cow.

The farm has a barn system with a capacity of 250 milking cows/barn, designed and imported from Sweden. Exhaust fan and mist spraying technology senses the temperature of the barn, manure scraper technology and massage brooms operate automatically 24/7 to create the cleanest, coolest and most comfortable space for each cow.

The farm also applies a health management system and accurate estrus detection through an accelerometer located in the MEMS chip worn on the neck of each cow… Thanks to that, the milk yield on the farm is average. 25 liters/head/day; increase milk quality and mating rate; Easily control the health of each cow.

Lots of room for development

Although there have been certain achievements, Mr. Tran Van Tuan said that businesses participating in digital transformation in Lam Dong are still few. Human resources with high expertise in digital agriculture are limited, so it is difficult to access and master advanced technology. Especially farmers are still afraid of implementing digital transformation.

In addition, the aging rate of labor in the agricultural sector is occurring rapidly, causing difficulties and hindering digital transformation. Both farmers and businesses lack understanding of e-commerce business. For a part of farmers, the concept of digital transformation in agriculture is still extremely new.

According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Phuong, in order to sustainably develop agriculture in urban areas in Vietnam, in the coming time, the Center for Digital Transformation and Agricultural Statistics will follow the roadmap, with 2 phases.

In particular, the period 2023-2025 focuses on promulgating projects and research programs and implementing experimental solutions for applying digital transformation and AI in urban agriculture. From there, pilot models of high-tech vegetable, flower and fruit production in greenhouses and smart membrane houses are formed in big cities. At the same time, piloting solutions for automatic irrigation and fertilization systems, disease monitoring and prevention systems based on IoT and AI.

In the period 2026-2030, people and businesses will replicate and develop the scale of high-tech urban agricultural production models applying digital transformation and AI deployed in the previous period nationwide; Building a supply chain system of organic fruits and vegetables in large cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang… with the “from farm to table” model.