Digital economy becomes new growth driver of Ninh Binh

In village 3, Phu Long commune (Nho Quan), among the rows of melon greenhouses, Mr. Dinh Van Hop checks the automatic irrigation system on his phone and replies to messages ordering melons on social networks. The farmer who has been attached to the fields for many years has become a “digital farm owner”: managing the production process with sensors and software, and selling products through online platforms.

New development space for digital economy

The merger of the three provinces of Ha Nam, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh into the new Ninh Binh province is considered a strategic institutional reform step. This process creates a wider socio-economic development space, with a large population, better-connected infrastructure and the ability to complement each other between regions.

Mr. Dinh Van Hop, owner of a melon farm in village 3, Phu Long commune (Nho Quan) promotes melon products on social networks.

Prof. Dr. Tran Tho Dat (National Economics University) said: "Digital economy is the strategic pillar for Ninh Binh province to break through in the new era. The merger of three provinces creates unprecedented scale and combined strength, but success or failure depends on whether the province can build a comprehensive, synchronous and effective digital ecosystem or not."

The statistics show a clear shift in the picture. In the 2020-2024 period, Ha Nam maintained GRDP growth of over 10% per year, with the digital economy proportion reaching 13.68%, higher than the national average. Ninh Binh recovered strongly after the pandemic with GRDP increasing by 8.56% in 2024, but the digital economy proportion only reached 9.09%. Nam Dinh was stable, but the digital economy proportion was only about 6.37%. Merging the three localities means having to recalculate the entire development structure, but also opens up opportunities to redesign the digital economic strategy on a larger scale.

The biggest advantage is that the domestic market is large enough to attract technology businesses, e-commerce, smart logistics and digital services.

Optimizing the strengths of each region in a common ecosystem

Before the merger, each province had its own advantages associated with the digital economy. Ha Nam is the destination of many high-tech industrial and logistics projects, with a system of modern industrial parks and transport infrastructure connecting the North-South axis. Nam Dinh is a training center, supplying human resources, with potential for software development, artificial intelligence, and digital services. Ninh Binh has advantages in heritage tourism and services with the ability to strongly develop smart tourism and online service platforms for tourists.

According to the leader of the Department of Science and Technology of Ninh Binh province, after the merger, the locality can develop according to the model of "functionally polarized digital economy", each area takes on a role, but is closely connected through the province-wide interconnected data infrastructure. This ecosystem, if operated well, will help reduce costs, increase work processing speed, improve management efficiency and investment attraction capacity.

One of the identified directions is to build a provincial-scale open data warehouse, connected with national databases on population, land, education, health, etc. This will be the foundation for the models of "multi-center - one platform", "provincial digital government", "paperless, contactless, no-delay public services" to operate smoothly.

In fact, many small and medium enterprises in Ninh Binh and Ha Nam have started using electronic accounting software, electronic invoices, implementing QR codes to trace the origin of OCOP products, specialty agricultural products, and putting goods on e-commerce platforms. Although not yet uniform, these steps show that production and business thinking is gradually shifting from traditional to data-based and digital platforms.

Production and assembly line of Hyundai Thanh Cong Automobile Factory, Gian Khau Industrial Park.

Tourism, one of the key economic sectors, also has the opportunity to become smart tourism, from booking services, paying, looking up information, to promoting images and experiencing virtual reality of destinations.

Farmers on the journey to becoming "digital citizens"

Ninh Binh has had models showing that agriculture can become an important component of the digital economy if it knows how to take advantage of technology.

Mr. Dinh Van Hop, owner of a golden melon farm in Phu Long commune, has been persistently pursuing a high-tech melon growing model for 7 years, investing in a greenhouse system, drip irrigation, sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, and nutrition, combined with farm management software. Thanks to that, he can control quality, reduce risks, increase productivity, and create jobs for local workers, earning nearly 1 billion VND per year.

The farm also promotes and sells its products mainly through social networks. With each harvest, information about the products, care processes, and quality certifications are updated regularly, helping buyers feel secure and goods sell faster.

In Yen Son commune (Tam Diep city), Mr. Doan Van Ba, Head of the Association of Professionals in Growing and Processing Safe Cassava Starch, chose to stick traceability stamps and combine online sales for local cassava products. Not only consuming family products, he also buys cassava from farmers in the commune for processing, selling about 17 tons of cassava starch each year, earning a profit of over 300 million VND.

The province currently has 348 cooperatives (including 212 agricultural service cooperatives and 136 specialized cooperatives) and 323 cooperative groups in the agricultural sector. Some units have linked processing and product consumption with businesses, applying high technology in production. However, the number of high-tech agricultural models is still small, many cooperatives have not proactively approached digital platforms, and have not linked digital transformation with long-term development strategies.

Policy and infrastructure for digital agriculture

Recognizing the importance of digital transformation, the province has implemented many specific programs and policies to support agriculture. In addition to policies from the Central Government, Ninh Binh issued policies to support agricultural production development, implementing the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Program for the period 2021-2025.

Up to now, 100% of districts and cities have completed their apparatus, organized the assessment and classification of OCOP products according to regulations. Resolution No. 32/2022/NQ-HDND dated July 15, 2022 of the Provincial People's Council stipulates that the support level for 3-star OCOP products is 75 million VND/product, 4-star is 85 million VND, 5-star is 100 million VND. This policy encourages entities to improve product quality, invest in packaging, labels, traceability, and standardize production processes associated with technology. By the end of 2024, the whole province has 209 OCOP products belonging to 130 entities ranked, of which 142 are 3-star products and 67 are 4-star products, exceeding the target set for 2025.

Farmers' Associations at all levels play a key role in promoting, training, and guiding the application of technology. In Yen Son commune, Chairman of the Farmers' Association Le Van Vuong said that the Association considers digital transformation a key task to increase income for members, organize branch activities, training classes, take advantage of loudspeaker systems and social networks to spread information, and encourage good farmers to take the lead and set examples.

Regarding infrastructure, the province focuses on building a data system to manage the origin, quality, and food safety, assigning growing area codes for key products, and coordinating the introduction and instruction of e-commerce platforms. Farmers, cooperatives, and cooperative groups are trained in online business, information technology skills, product presentation, and customer interaction.

From high-tech industrial parks to melon farms, cassava processing factories, from GRDP statistical data to each QR code on OCOP products, Ninh Binh is gradually creating a digital economic pillar for open development space, aiming to become the digital economic center of the Red River Delta./.

Center for Science and Technology Communication

Source: https://mst.gov.vn/kinh-te-so-tro-thanh-dong-luc-tang-truong-moi-cua-ninh-binh-197251129220552572.htm