Technology application - solution to improve Vietnam's agricultural export capacity

Tay Ninh starts construction of 200 billion VND high-tech livestock farming project Improving information technology application skills and digital transformation for officials of the Industry and Trade sector

Top in export growth

At the workshop “Application of technology - Innovation to enhance export capacity for Vietnam's agricultural sector” held on the morning of September 27, Ms. Tran Thi Lan Anh - General Secretary of the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said that the agricultural sector currently has more than 10 groups of products with export turnover of over 1 billion USD such as vegetables, rice, coffee, cashew nuts, pepper, wooden products... These are also Vietnam's main export products.

Vietnam's agricultural, forestry and fishery products are present in 200 countries and territories around the world , including demanding markets such as the US, EU, Japan, etc. In which, the EU is a potential market for many key agricultural export products of Vietnam, especially since the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) was signed.

Ứng dụng công nghệ - giải pháp nâng cao năng lực xuất khẩu nông sản Việt

Ms. Tran Thi Lan Anh - General Secretary of VCCI

At the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Van Hoi - Director of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Research on Industry and Trade, Ministry of Industry and Trade informed: Agricultural products are one of the key export industries of Vietnam, contributing positively to the overall export turnover of the whole country.

In the general context, in the first 8 months of 2023, the total import-export turnover of goods decreased, but the export turnover of agricultural products reached 16.9 billion USD, an increase of 11.5%. Of which, the export turnover of fruits and vegetables of Vietnam reached 3.55 billion USD, an increase of 61.8% over the same period in 2022. This figure was higher than the total turnover of the whole year of 2022, which was 3.36 billion USD. In the first 8 months of this year, the fruit and vegetable industry had a trade surplus of over 2.1 billion USD. The export turnover of the spice group reached over 1 billion USD, an increase of more than 7% over the same period in 2022.

“ Vietnam is currently the world leader in pepper production and export; number 1 in the world in cinnamon export, and number 2 in the world in star anise export. In addition, other spices also occupy quite important positions such as: chili, cloves, ginger, cardamom... Vietnam's spice import markets are also increasingly diverse such as the United States, EU, China, India and the Middle East, ” Mr. Nguyen Van Hoi emphasized.

Despite many positive results, delegates at the Workshop shared the view that Vietnam's agricultural production and trading still has many limitations such as: small-scale production, lack of production linkages along the chain, and low level of application of science and technology by agricultural enterprises.

Vietnam's agricultural products are mainly exported raw due to lack of processing and preservation technology, leading to low business efficiency and competitiveness, and not ensuring compliance with the processes, regulations and standards of the import market from production, harvesting, preliminary processing, packaging, transportation, and traceability to promote exports.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoi also pointed out that the readiness level for integration of Vietnamese agricultural export enterprises is still modest; exploiting opportunities from international economic integration and implementing commitments in free trade agreements for developing agricultural export markets in recent times has not been as effective as expected.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoi - Director of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Research on Industry and Trade, Ministry of Industry and Trade

At the same time, the development and implementation of strategies, policies and plans for the development of industries are not suitable and do not closely meet the needs of agricultural export enterprises. There is a lack of policies to encourage and enhance cooperation and linkage between agricultural export enterprises and FDI enterprises to enhance the combined strength of capital, technology and management level when participating in the global supply chain; there is no focus on encouraging the application of technology and innovation to enhance the export capacity of Vietnam's agricultural sector.

Enhancing export capacity through technology application

With the above mentioned shortcomings, to enhance the export capacity of Vietnamese agricultural products, experts said that there should be synchronous solutions to support the whole industry in developing along the chain, processing to ensure product quality standards; implementing traceability, building brands to increase added value and competitiveness of export products and meet increasingly strict standards of the international market.

In particular, technology is identified as an important solution to help increase the value and market share of Vietnamese agricultural products in the export market.

In fact, in recent times, the research and application of high technology in agriculture has been increasingly interested and expanded throughout the country. " Science and technology have contributed over 35% to the success of Vietnam's agricultural production; in 2022, 1 hectare of cultivated land will be worth 104.2 million VND/ha ", said Mr. Pham Duc Nghiem, Deputy Director of the Department of Market Development and Science and Technology Enterprises, Ministry of Science and Technology.

Workshop "Application of technology - Innovation to enhance export capacity for Vietnam's agricultural industry"

To further promote the role of technology in increasing the value of agricultural exports, Mr. Pham Duc Nghiem recommended: Building an innovative startup ecosystem in the agricultural sector; strengthening cooperation in agricultural science and technology with countries with advanced agriculture in the region and internationally; promoting training to improve the quality of human resources in agriculture; developing the market for science and technology in the agricultural sector, forming an agricultural technology exchange; building and effectively putting into operation high-tech agricultural zones, promoting the development of high-tech agricultural zones.

Research institutes and universities strengthen cooperation to receive orders for research and development of high technology and green technology for agricultural production, helping to improve the quality and value of agricultural products. Form specialized departments to promote commercialization and transfer of completed scientific research and technology development results to enterprises, cooperatives, and agricultural cooperative groups.

In particular, enterprises and cooperatives increase investment and strongly apply technology: Information technology, artificial intelligence in smart agricultural production, manage the production process according to the value chain associated with traceability, ensure production quality and scale of goods. Promote cooperation with scientists and experts to quickly receive and master high technology in agricultural production. Improve qualifications and capacity to quickly receive and operate high technology in agricultural production.

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