Agriculture 4.0 in Vietnam

In Vietnam, the advent of 4.0 smart agriculture marks the end of reliance solely on water, fertilizers, and pesticides. Farmers would instead use the smallest quantities possible, while still using data, GPS technology, and moisture sensors to address conventional crop selection, market access, and creativity challenges.

In the Mekong Delta, smart agriculture is important.

Despite the fact that rice has played a central role in Vietnamese culture for thousands of years, their rice bowl is at a breaking point, as farmers need all available resources, including conventional plows attached to water buffalo, rice harvesters, and the new mobile agri-apps, to help them and their crops thrive.

Vietnam was a starving country in the 1980s. Reforms over the last three decades, known as Doi Moi, have altered the socioeconomic landscape. The move from collectivization to private land ownership raised farm production while reducing poverty. Rice exports from Vietnam, the world's largest producer, have increased as a result of agricultural sector liberalization.

Climate change, industrialization, drought, dwindling freshwater supplies, emissions, and the sea levels, on the other hand, are producing a perfect storm that is threatening sustainable agriculture production. As a result, the government is considering a policy change away from or restructuring of their staple rice production to other crops, as the rice sector is vulnerable and inefficient.

“Climate change has intensified natural disasters, especially typhoons, flooding, and droughts. It is important to provide (scientific) estimates of the vulnerability of natural resources and the coastal ecosystem because of the detrimental impacts of climate change,” says Nguyen Hoang So, a geographer at Hue University.

Vietnam's all-or-nothing development strategy has come to the detriment of the community. Agricultural success has resulted in erosion, loss of mangrove and fishery resources, and an increase in land degradation and water pollution linked to the widespread use of fertilizers and pesticides.

A Wharton Public Policy report warns Vietnam that high-tech and climate-smart agriculture is desperately needed due to climate change, sea-level rise, and a decline in agricultural space (CSA). The current trajectory of industrial fertilizer and other agrochemical usage is not sustainable, according to the report.

As a result, the government has taken measures to encourage high-tech agriculture, including a $4.4 billion credit line for high-tech agriculture initiatives, but far too many small farmers are still afraid to use the current downloadable software to boost their farming practices.

“Almost all of the farmers I've known don't use their cellphones for farming purposes. Farmers, on the other hand, mostly use smartphones for contact and entertainment". Although the pattern is shifting, Truong Nguyen, a former Participatory Research Specialist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, says that farmers are still not considering smartphones as a development method (CIAT).

New projects in Southeast Asia, such as Agro-climate Information Services (ACIS), which is aimed at women and ethnic minority growers, AloWeather (SMS text), Green Coffee in Vietnam, and Specialize Expert System for Agro-Meteorological Early Warning (RIMES-SESAME) in Cambodia and Myanmar, have had limited success but hope for the future.

Environment information is digitally accessible to farmers in neighboring Laos PDR thanks to a program called Strengthening Agri-climate Monitoring and Information Systems (SAMIS), in which technicians create weekly weather bulletins with agro-advisories and distribute them to farmers through a combination of neighborhood loudspeaker systems and WhatsApp.

Farmers in the Mekong delta are gathering large amounts of data and using low-cost small processors to use science-based data to manage machines and track livestock. Their smartphones provide access to agricultural weather data, as well as the opportunity to order replacement mechanical parts or receive accurate market statistics on the rivalry between food and bio-energy crops.

Nguyen Thi Tam uses her mobile to receive weather updates for her farming forecasts thanks to training and assistance from Google volunteers. A Google grant and partnership with the Vietnam Farmer's Union (VNFU) also helped in the implementation of a digital skills training pilot program for at least 30,000 farmers.

In addition, Google offers digital training via a Digital Bus that travels to 59 provinces in rural areas. Primer, free software from the multinational, features short and simple ways to develop digital marketing skills.

“While most Vietnamese rice farmers continue to rely on their own conventional cultivation practices, more are beginning to embrace digital technologies and data-driven innovations,” says Dr. Ngo Duc Minh of the CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS), an advocate for organic fertilizer production.

Agriculture enterprises in Vietnam continue to use creative solutions to direct farmers toward digitalization. For instance, Presence Nutrition, a free smartphone app created by the French feed company Neovia, provides farmers with up-to-date market information and is regarded as an expert source of animal nutrition expertise.

Launched two years ago, it has been downloaded 10,000 times by Vietnamese farmers. With an easy-to-use interface, the app is a useful tool for farmers to check daily prices in livestock markets, be alerted about local diseases, receive local weather forecasts, and find nutritional information needed for each type of animal.

In Vietnam, other innovations, such as one aimed at shrimp farming, have also been developed. Biosipec has developed a new method of shrimp farming. “The Vietnamese are very conservative about how they cultivate shrimp,” says Thomas Raynaud, marketing technological aquaculture director of Neovia Vietnam. “However, the situation is changing, and they are beginning to consider certain facets of the creative shrimp farming applications because it decreases risks and environmental impact”.

Agricultural enterprises in Vietnam, particularly large concerns that have invested heavily in digital farming in order to build a digitalized agriculture supply chain, reduce costs, and improve productivity, see high-tech apps in farming as a required step. Sat4Rice, a technology-based predictive data system founded by Nelen & Schuurmans in the Netherlands, is collaborating with Loc Troi Group in Vietnam to assist Mekong delta rice farmers in responding to rice cultivation issues.

“Drought conditions in the Mekong delta have been particularly serious, making agricultural advice more necessary than ever. Contrary to popular belief, smartphone use is widespread in the area, and farmers are more willing to use it for farming support,” says Alexander Hoff, Water & Agriculture Business Manager.

Furthermore, GMA, a green app maker, focuses on creating tech technologies to fix the issue of information and connectivity between farmers and local authorities and has over 20,000 monthly users in An Giang province.

There are Asian-wide programs focusing on agricultural stewardship and assisting farmers in selecting alternatives to limit or eliminate pesticide use. CropLife Asia and Thuoc BVTV, a recent Vietnamese software that takes data and knowledge directly to farmers' smartphones so they can find the least toxic pest control approaches for their crops, are examples of this.

Vietnam is and will continue to be an agricultural nation. Climate change is causing alarm among policymakers in the Mekong Delta, who have called for a transition from traditional farming to more modern, sustainable, and profitable farming.

Vietnam's drive for high-tech agricultural technologies has its obstacles, but it's clear that 4.0 agriculture is the best way to ensure food stability, crop quality, and sustainability. Programs like Microsoft Vietnam and Vietnet Information Technology's "Youth Spark Digital Inclusion" are narrowing technology gaps by allowing rural youth to follow smart farming practices in a digitally-driven agri-food environment.

Hoang Tu Anh

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References

• Nieuwsbericht (2020). "High-tech contribution to Vietnam's agriculture". Retrieved from https://www.agroberichtenbuitenland.nl/actueel/nieuws/2020/04/20/high-tech-contribution-to-vietnam-s-agriculture

• James Borton (2020). "Backgrounder: Agriculture 4.0 in Vietnam". Retrieved from https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/backgrounder-agriculture-4-0-in-vietnam/