Viet Nam looks to connect five million farming households to e-commerce platforms this year, which would create breakthroughs in the development of the digital economy in the agriculture sector, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Anh Tuan said.

This was the highlight of the ministry’s plan approved in late July to provide support to farmers to take their products online and promote the development of the digital economy in the agriculture and rural sector.

At an online conference this week to implement the plan, Tuan said that the plan aimed to connect farming households with e-commerce platforms to promote their products, expand markets and encourage consumption of farm produce.

Tuan asked local departments of agriculture and rural development and industry and trade to cooperate with two selected post companies Vietnam Post and Viettel Post to develop detailed plans for connecting local farmers with e-commerce platforms this month.

Tuan said that five million farming households would be connected to e-commerce platforms by the end of this year, which would create the first breakthrough in developing the digital economy for the agriculture sector, adding that support would continue to be provided in following years.

Nguyen Trong Duong, Deputy Director of the ministry’s Department of Enterprise Management, said that it was important to make farmers see the benefits of bringing their products online.

For a bigger goal, the ministry aimed to connect a total of 13 million farming and individual business households to e-commerce platforms, Duong said.

Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Agricultural Products Processing and Development Department showed that to date, only around 8,000 farming households with more than 14,500 agricultural products were connected to e-commerce platforms.

E-commerce platforms provided a good channel for distributing agricultural products, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A clear example could be seen from the consumption of lychee of COVID-hit Bac Giang Province in May. More than 8,000 tonnes of lychee was sold in 63 provinces and cities nationwide via two platforms Postmart and Voso.

According to Tuan, the volume of agricultural products sold via e-commerce platforms remained modest. However, e-commerce platforms would not only play a role in selling the products but also in promoting the products and expanding markets, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. — VNS