Despite production and market difficulties due to the pandemic and climate change, many districts, firms and organisations in Ha Noi's agricultural sector have remained strong thanks to the application of science and information technology.
It has helped them improve their products’ value and meet the technical requirements of import markets.
In the past few years, Ha Noi's agriculture sector has implemented many programmes and solutions to support businesses and cooperatives to promote the application of information technology in the production and processing of agricultural products, which have brought many benefits, such as increasing the product value, food safety management and product information transparency.
Tran Sy Hung, Director of Nghia Minh Mushroom Cooperative in Dan Phuong District, said his cooperative had applied information technology in production, processing and packaging besides registering QR codes on products’ stamps and packages so that consumers can check all production stages.
On average, the cooperative provides 30-40 tonnes of mushrooms of all kinds annually, which helps its members earn VND500-600 million a year.
Doan Van Thang, Director of Van Nam Agricultural Cooperative in Phuc Tho District, said with the support of competent authorities, his cooperative's products had traceability stamps and a collective brand logo named Van Nam Banana so consumers can recognise and be assured of the product quality.
Pham Thi Ly, Director of the Centre for Enterprise Integration and Development in Thanh Xuan District, said the centre had cooperated with Ha Noi's agriculture sector to support cooperatives and enterprises in applying Check VN technology to establish data, digitise, monitor, control, secure and authenticate information on products that are eligible for food hygiene and safety.
The centre had also rapidly helped connect manufacturers and managers with consumers through QR codes and Check VN application software.
The traceability of agricultural products is gradually becoming an inevitable trend and a mandatory requirement, allowing domestic and foreign consumers to have complete information about all production stages. Photo Nguyen Hoang
Head of the Ha Noi Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Quality Assurance Department, Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, said to be transparent about product information, Ha Noi had supported, guided and granted management accounts to 3,109 agricultural production facilities in the city.
The department also completed transparent information management procedures for 653 enterprises in Ha Noi and 238 enterprises in other provinces and cities with 10,952 sets of traceability codes for agricultural products eligible for food safety.
“The application of information technology in food safety management not only helps competent authorities to receive timely consumers’ feedback but also capture and analyse market needs to plan for product quality improvement to develop a clean food market that meets the consumption needs of Vietnamese people and foreigners living in Ha Noi,” Hang said.
The application of information technology in agricultural production and food safety management had gradually contributed to preventing and reducing food poisoning cases and bringing many benefits to consumers, she said.
To improve the efficiency of the information technology application in agricultural production and food safety management, Le Van Tam, Director of Song Hong Agricultural Cooperative in Dong Anh District, proposed that Ha Noi needs a policy to fund cooperatives in putting modern technologies into the management of agricultural products’ preservation and processing, which will link agricultural product consumption chains and distribution channels.
Nguyen Thac Hung, Vice Chairman of Dan Phuong District People's Committee, said besides focusing on the safe agricultural production development, Dan Phuong District would deploy information technology application solutions in production, trading and processing of agricultural products.
In addition, the district will review, appraise and grant codes to participate in the Ha Noi traceability electronic information system for eligible agricultural production and processing establishments.
According to Nguyen Ngoc Son, Deputy Director of Ha Noi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ha Noi will promote the application of information technology in food traceability and encourage trade centres, supermarkets and food stores to prioritise trading in items with traceable codes, barcodes and stamps.
Son said localities should continually organise training courses to improve their employees' use of food safety management software.
Supermarkets should have staff to guide consumers on tracing food's origin through information technology applications such as smartphones.
Son expects the measures will help increase the application of information technology in the production stages so that consumers can be assured of getting the right agricultural products. — VNS