Agricultural achievements 4.0 and solutions

(BAFU) – For Vietnam, application of agricultural achievements 4.0 is the application of the industrial achievements 4.0 (including Internet, biotechnology, nano-technology, lighting technology, robotic technology …) into agriculture.

Agriculture is a foundation, a development axis, and a strong pillar of the economy. Over the years, the sector has recorded continuous growth with important achievements, contributing to nationwide economic stability, reducing poverty and improving the standard of living for rural residents.

Dairy farm uses Asia’s largest intelligent breeding technology of the TH Group.

The pioneers

In the next few years, we have not been able to reach our target as some countries (USA, Canada, Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, Argentina), because they have tested the application of Agriculture 4.0 since the 2000s.  Hundreds of millions of tons of agricultural products, such as maize, soybeans, and vegetables produced in these countries, require only 5% of labor costs in the cost structure, but in Vietnam is about 50%. Thus, the cost of many agricultural products in Vietnam is nearly double.

However, along with the trend of international economic integration, from 2010 to present, Vietnam agriculture has been applying some elements of Agriculture 4.0 which are intelligent applications and  devices.

The application of smart devices, large investment capital and human resources knowledge technology – equipment has just been applied by some large enterprises. Application of greenhouse technology, net house and automatic irrigation equipment, monitoring and control system for temperature, humidity, light, ventilation and watering. At present, Anh Dao – agricultural co-operative  (Dalat – Lam Dong) is using these technologies to grow VietGAP fruit and vegetables, the domestic output is 50,000 tons / a year and 4,000 tons for exporting; turnover of more than 10 million USD per year.

In livestock, some Vietnam farms are applying smart management, technology; Automatically feeds, depending on the age of cattle, poultry, seafood and seafood that program the number of feeds per day as well as the amount of food for each meal; Automatic lighting system is turned on when feeding. Using SmartChick software from Microsoft Vietnam, users who do not need much knowledge and experience but still get the most quality chickens after farming, thanks to automatic or semi-automatic operation through IOT technology, which helps users take care of chickens at any time and anywhere via the internet.

Promulgating the development plan 4.0

In order to develop Agriculture 4.0, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has issued a national 4.0 agricultural development plan and ecological zones. In particular, clearly present the context of the world and Vietnam, potential markets, criteria to reach, advantages, difficulties when applying; training human resources; visit, survey neighboring countries.

Setting up expert bank on hi-tech agriculture, Agriculture 4.0; Organize scientific delegations to Thailand, Taiwan (China), Malaysia, Japan to exchange experience.

It is recommended that the Government direct thel coordination between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Education and Training for building technology 4.0 application in production – processing consumption of agricultural products 4.0; The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should adjust the policy of recognizing technical advances; Import equipment, materials and technologies.

For urban areas such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, Vinh (Nghe An), Hue (Thua Thien – Hue), Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Lat (Lam Dong) where have supermarkets, large consumption markets creating conditions for enterprises to focus on building models of application technology, smart devices in production – processing – consumption.

For farmers, consumers should apply Agriculture 4.0 and consume the products of 4.0, thus consumers should take advantage of the opportunity to approach the popular dissemination of the advantages of smart agricultural applications. For example, consumers can use smart phones, install free software of  agricultural products, meat, eggs, milk, confectionery …, anti-counterfeit to test by themselves while purchasing . It is recommended that the Government have a policy to exhibit all the products sold in stalls of markets, supermarkets, that must be smartly stamped for consumers to access.

                                                          Sourse: Le Quy Kha, Deputy Director of the Southern Institute of Agricultural Science