All information will be transparent.
At the forum "Promoting Digitalization in Agricultural and Food Traceability," organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the morning of February 28th, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga, Project Coordinator of ACIAR, emphasized that technology helps make traceability activities more transparent.
She cited the example of a pilot project to monitor compliance with VietGAP standards and quality using digital technology in the Vietnamese vegetable value chain (currently being implemented in Moc Chau, Son La ). In this project, farmers use electronic record-keeping to input production information; and print labels at the farm with product information, QR codes, and barcodes for retailers and consumers.
Furthermore, the new software can link everything together; consumers can simply scan a QR code to receive information about farmers and crops. Retailers can also scan a QR code to access information about VietGAP compliance, traceability, temperature, and humidity during transportation. The system will generate compliance reports for each shipment, stored in the cloud, to track VietGAP compliance for each batch, according to Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga.
According to Mr. Le Quy Kha of Dai Thanh Joint Stock Company, traceability data is based on a smart device platform that manages and analyzes the entire production process from planting to caring for, harvesting, processing, preliminary processing, crop management status, and agricultural input management status.
"Through this, overseas product importers can also track and monitor each stage of production in the fields of Vietnamese farmers through image data from cameras. For example, sitting in Hanoi, they can know the details of how each mango tree in Dong Thap is cared for, how the fruit is harvested, and what means of transportation are used. Everything is transparent," Mr. Kha emphasized.
Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam, representative of the Center for Digital Transformation and Agricultural Statistics, stated that the traceability system of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has been officially installed and is operational at the address: http://checkvn.mard.gov.vn/
The system has been developed into three main subsystems: the Product Traceability Information Portal; a system for managing and updating information and data on product traceability for state management agencies and businesses; and a mobile application that allows for searching, tracing, and retrieving product origin information.
Currently, the system is connecting and sharing data with 8 traceability systems in 8 provinces and cities, and includes more than 3,964 businesses with traceability codes for 16,987 agricultural and food products.
Traceability must be genuine and truthful.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuc, Director of AutoAgri Software Technology Joint Stock Company, affirmed that product traceability and transparency are extremely important and beneficial conditions for producers and suppliers to protect their brands, promote their products, and safeguard their suppliers.
However, to apply digital technology to traceability, she believes that the application platform must be flexible. A single, uniform platform cannot be applied everywhere.
Ms. Thuc gave an example, where a household expressed concern: "We don't use these chemicals. I use homemade biological products during the production process, so can we include them in the records, or do I have to copy someone else's information?" According to her, farmers must have the right to speak the truth and act honestly.
In addition, appropriate software is needed, especially software that is suitable for the users' skill levels. For example, even illiterate people or those without computers should be able to access it, Ms. Thuc suggested.
Mr. Mai Quang Vinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Digital Economy Cooperative Union, pointed out that creating QR codes for each product is very easy, allowing users to obtain information in just a few seconds. Therefore, without a good mindset, the digitization and management of agricultural and food information in this way will be very lax; purchasing businesses can easily buy counterfeit or low-quality goods.
According to Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of the Center for Digital Transformation and Agricultural Statistics, the government is shifting its focus from management to governance, from state administration to serving businesses. Therefore, for digitalization in agricultural product traceability to truly become effective and practical, the participation and coordination of all parties are essential, from the state to businesses, cooperatives, and farmers. Furthermore, agricultural product traceability plays a crucial role in serving and meeting the requirements of international integration, enhancing transparency and accountability for the industry, and protecting farmers' rights.
"Given these immense values, we are not doing this just for a stamp, but as a responsibility of the producer, a testament to consumer trust, and, more broadly, the accountability of agriculture," Mr. Toan noted.
Regarding solutions to improve the traceability system, he suggested that mechanisms and frameworks are needed to facilitate and revitalize the application, as any software requires time to operate and build data. In addition, production and processing procedures must be systematized and interconnected.
Currently, Vietnam has 19,000 agricultural cooperatives, 14,200 agricultural enterprises, 7,500 agricultural processing facilities, and 9,400 supermarkets and first-class markets. These are the data components of the agricultural sector's Big Data. Therefore, traceability must be comprehensive and very specific to encompass this enormous amount of data, Mr. Toan affirmed.
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