Workshop seeks to develop smart agriculture in Vietnam

Panels introduced technological measures in tra fish production, controlling temperature, humidity and light for plants and growing flowers in net houses.

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Pham Dai Duong said smart agriculture is a key part of the Government’s programme on accessing the fourth Industrial Revolution.

The development of smart agriculture brings huge opportunities and challenges to an agro-based country like Vietnam, he said.

Rebecca Bryant, Australian Deputy Ambassador to Vietnam, said she is willing to share experience in smart agriculture development and technological transfer.

The Mekong Delta, the largest granary of Vietnam, has a lot of advantages to develop smart agriculture.

At a conference on sustainable and climate-resilient development of the Mekong Delta held in Can Tho city in September 2017, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc urged the region to work towards smart and sustainable agriculture.

He envisioned the Mekong Delta as an innovation valley of a multifunctional agriculture with strong application of modern science and technology which is highly adaptable to an environment of salinity and lack of fresh water and alluvium.

He said the Mekong Delta must strive to raise the ratio of ecological and high-tech agriculture in the regional economy to more than 80% and per capita GDP to US$10,000 by 2050.

The PM suggested the Mekong Delta shift thinking in agricultural development from mainly rice cultivation to an agricultural economy, from quantity to quality and from chemical-based agricultural production to organic and high-tech practices.

He added that it is important to respect natural rules, thus selecting development models adaptive to natural conditions with minimum interference on nature.