Digital transformation creates a healthy agribusiness environment

The COVID-19 epidemic on the one hand made the country’s agricultural products face many difficulties in the consumption process, but on the other hand it opened new ways of consumption with low cost and high efficiency, which is trading on digital platforms.

In agriculture, digital transformation helps to connect millions of farming households with processing and commercial enterprises as well as businesses that provide inputs for production and especially opening up new consumption channels that help shorten the gap between producers and consumers, making trade transactions more transparent, creating a healthy agribusiness environment.

Right from the first months of 2022, functional departments in provinces and cities such as Bac Giang, Son La, Hung Yen, Bac Kan, BinhDinh and Can Tho, have issued plans for the promotion of consuming agricultural products on e-commerce, at the same time exchanging and coordinating with the Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade to connect with major e-commerce platforms in Vietnam.

Postmart.vn, Voso.vn and Sendo have made plans to prepare in advance to train and guide households in the provinces of Bac Giang, Son La, and Hung Yen, through online instruction channels or sets of documents guiding registration of booths, sales, post products and order management for Bac Giang lychee products, Son La plums, Hung Yen longan and Bac Kan zucchini.

According to the statistics of Postmart.vn, the average daily traffic volume of Postmart.vn is nearly 10 thousand, a sharp increase compared to previous years. The majority of consumers have access to and choose to buy agricultural products, fruit, and local specialities. Following the successes of the Bac Giang lychee case in 2021 on e-commerce, in early April, Sendo planned to distribute Hai Duong and Bac Giang lychees. Thanks to the good quality, and beautiful designs, lychee is expected to have a good season on Sendo.

However, it can be seen putting agricultural products on the e-commerce platforms is not easy. The main reason is still limited awareness of businesses, or lack of highly qualified human resources, knowledge of information technology, and business processes on e-commerce. In addition, they not only need to know how to register and put products on e-commerce stores but businesses should also be fully equipped with knowledge and skills in online product promotion, online marketing, construction and promotion of product image and position of the business. An indispensable job is aneed for skills in customer care and product quality management.

Therefore, the authorities need to organise training for farmers, farm owners, and small and medium enterprises, on product promotion and online sales skills, and support the application of a traceability system to create conditions for farmers to directly contact customers, and understand more clearly market trends and requirements, from which, production will be organised effectively, meeting consumer demand.

On the other hand, local authorities also need to have policies to encourage farmers to learn about and apply digital technologies in the production and consumption of agricultural products; as well as having preferential policies for agricultural production households when purchasing products, raw materials and inputs for production and business on the e-commerce platforms. In addition, the authorities need to support farmers to connect with e-commerce businesses more clearly to effectively manage the production chain, thereby ensuring product quality.

Digital transformation brings great benefits to farmers where they will overcome the inherent weakness of depending on traders and being passive in finding outputs for their agricultural products. By applying digital transformation in agriculture, farmers can now easily introduce the origin and production process to sellers, thereby giving consumers absolute peace of mind about the quality of agricultural products. Accelerating digital transformation, and promoting e-commerce are being seen as effective solutions for Vietnam's agricultural future. This is not only a short-term trend but a seamless journey to change the face of Vietnam's agriculture.