Vietnamese agriculture faces '3 big pressures' - breakthrough opportunities from digital transformation

DNVN - Shrinking land, extreme climate and limited digital capacity are putting great pressure on Vietnamese agriculture, but digital transformation is considered the fastest way to help the agricultural sector move towards high value.

Illustration photo.

In the context of shrinking land, extreme climate and rapidly changing markets, Vietnamese agriculture can only develop sustainably if it shifts to a production model based on data, technology and reorganizes rural spaces in a modern direction.

That is the conclusion of the topic "Sustainable development of agriculture, rural economy and farmers associated with national digital transformation, urbanization and adaptation to climate change", led by Prof. Dr. Tran Duc Vien - Vietnam Academy of Agriculture.

According to the research team, the current agricultural landscape is under three simultaneous pressures: urbanization causes fragmentation and dispersion of cultivated land; climate change causes drought, salinity, erosion and crop risks; while farmers' digital capacity varies greatly between regions.

The survey found that more than half of smallholder producers are not yet qualified to apply digital processes, leading to high production costs and difficulties in accessing export markets. Many localities still lack data platforms for natural disaster forecasting, chain linkages or traceability – factors that are increasingly required in agricultural trade.

However, experts believe that this is also a time to open up opportunities to rebuild Vietnamese agriculture towards higher value. Three main drivers are identified: using big data to optimize crops; developing a circular economy to reduce environmental pressure; and shifting rural labor to professional production models, linked to businesses and cooperatives.

Experience from Japan, the Netherlands and Israel shows that technology is only effective when accompanied by synchronous policies: digital infrastructure to production areas, support for high-tech agricultural enterprises and digital skills training for farmers. Vietnam is considered to be approaching the stage of "having enough conditions to accelerate" if it solves the problem of reorganizing production and standardizing agricultural data.

Bao Ngoc

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/chuyen-doi-so/nong-nghiep-viet-truoc-3-suc-ep-lon-co-hoi-but-pha-tu-chuyen-doi-so/20251208063608242