Using blockchain to store agricultural data is a great way to check the quality of products and thus earn customer trust due to its transparent nature, experts have said at a conference in Can Tho City on Thursday.

The conference on using blockchain to increase the value of Vietnamese farm goods was held by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Can Tho and Lina Network Joint Stock Company.

Nguyen Phuong Lam, deputy director of VCCI Can Tho, said the Mekong Delta is Viet Nam’s largest producer and processor of agricultural products, especially rice, fisheries and fruits.

But export value growth has been stagnant due to the reliance on raw products and limited adoption of advanced technologies and techniques, he said.

The lack of ties between farmers and businesses also makes it difficult to check product origin and quality, he added.

Vu Truong Ca, chairman of Lina Network, said blockchain technology is used by many agricultural businesses in other countries to help customers know about product origin.

Storing data using blockchain offers more transparency since it is available to everyone and highly resilient to alterations, which greatly improves the process of checking product origin and quality, he added.

Tu Minh Thien of the Agricultural Hi-tech Park of HCM City said using blockchain in agriculture is crucial to tackling the problem of products with unclear origins and building trust among customers, which leads to higher brand value and competitiveness.

Other experts said blockchain technology can be used to store data about the processing stages a product goes through, meaning distributors and customers can assess its quality.

Other speakers agreed that using new technologies such as blockchain to modernise agriculture would be a huge step towards industry 4.0 that Viet Nam is striving to achieve. — VNS