Lesson 1: Mastering the technology field

Mr. Nguyen Duc Huy instructs workers on the VietPorics farm control system.

Footprint-free fields, deserted farms operated by sensors and automatic irrigation systems, or rich agricultural product stalls on e-commerce platforms, "famous" livestream sessions of farmers on social networks... have fundamentally changed the production. There, farmers are the subject, the center of the rural economic development process, bringing a new look to the digital agricultural era.

The breakthrough of new digital technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Big Data, Autonomous Robots... is fundamentally changing the world's production and is getting closer to Vietnamese farmers.

Science and technology change production

In the morning, the fog had just cleared on the mountain town of Da Lat, we visited the farm of farmer Nguyen Duc Huy (Lam Vien ward - Da Lat, Lam Dong province). Sitting in a coffee shop, after a few operations on his smartphone, Mr. Huy said: "Actually, I don't need to go down to take care of the garden because all the parameters are fine, but I want to take the journalist to experience it."

Taking us to visit the farm of nearly 1 hectare, cultivating a variety of vegetables, tubers, and fruits, Mr. Huy shared: “Now the farm is controlled automatically, technology and machinery do everything, from fertilizing, watering to care. When the machine gives warnings, we use appropriate biological drugs... The farm currently has only 6 "hard" workers whose daily job is to operate the VietPorics Control System (VietPorics Control System) integrated with AI Chatbot to take care of the garden."

After more than 10 years, the VietPorics control system data, researched and written by Nguyen Duc Huy himself, has been "loaded" quite a lot. Along with AI integration, this system allows farmers to manage their farms remotely, and can also take care of their farms while sitting in a coffee shop.

The story began in 2013, after graduating with a master's degree in plant biology from the University of Natural Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City. After a year working in the state sector, Nguyen Duc Huy realized the great opportunity from Da Lat agriculture and decided to return to his hometown to start a business. After many failures due to production depending on the weather and identifying "errors" in the production process, Nguyen Duc Huy decided to write his own control software for the garden, connected to a smartphone, computer - a tool to "read and understand" the actual ecological changes in the garden - then recommend the farm owner to give accurate "commands" to handle, predict the appearance of pests, and prevent them from the beginning.

Also in the Central Highlands, Ms. Cao Thi Luu Bieu's 1-hectare coffee garden in Ea Kao ward, Dak Lak province is enchantingly beautiful thanks to the care provided by a sensor system for soil nutrition, water, temperature, etc. The Enfarm device continuously monitors 7 essential indicators including pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, temperature, humidity and electrical conductivity (EC), helping farmers reduce material costs and increase productivity and crop quality. "Thanks to the installation and use of the Enfarm sensor system, taking care of the coffee garden is much more convenient, proactive and effective. Especially when the data is updated regularly, it helps farmers detect all risks early and make accurate decisions on the amount of irrigation water and fertilizer," Ms. Bieu excitedly said.

While Mr. Huy and Ms. Bieu use smartphones as a tool to check soil health for production, for members of the Toan Thuong Agricultural Cooperative (Lang Son), smartphones are used as a "miracle" to bring agricultural products further through livestream sales sessions and setting up booths on social networks and digital business platforms. When the host tells the garden story, the person in charge continuously replies to comments, the logistics staff updates orders and supports fast delivery, it is also the time when digital transformation has truly become a tool to enrich farmers.

Ms. Vuong Thi Thuong - Director of the Cooperative said: Each member of the cooperative is a professional seller on social networks. Thanks to that, in 2024, the cooperative produced up to 10 tons of finished wind-dried persimmons, equivalent to 50-60 tons of fresh raw persimmons with a revenue of 5 billion VND.

"Scientist" of the fields

As a farmer attached to the fields, Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung (Lai Vung commune, Dong Thap province) often worries about the "inconsistency" in rice production. For many years, he has lived with the refrain of good harvest but low price, good price but bad harvest. After a long time of researching, learning and practicing how to hybridize new rice varieties with sweat, tears and financial losses, even a period of debt, in 2015 he successfully hybridized the pineapple-scented Ngoc Do rice variety, followed by Huyen Ngoc Dinh An and Nhu Hong varieties.

“During the breeding process, I consulted scientific documents, exchanged and learned from universities and research institutes, strictly followed the selection, breeding and testing steps. With a growing period of about 95-100 days, the pineapple-scented Ngoc Do rice variety can resist pests such as brown planthoppers and rice blast; has good lodging resistance; requires low fertilizer but still gives high yield. In particular, the rice has high nutritional value and is one of the export products in the high-value, high-quality segment. Moreover, this is a unique rice variety, so it is less affected by the market's unusual influence, bringing stable income to growers. In addition, the rice seed fields are also "outdoor laboratories" for many students from universities in the Mekong Delta to research and practice", Mr. Dung proudly said.

If Mr. Dung specializes in rice breeding, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Huan (Thanh An commune, Can Tho city) is known as one of the few farmers with the capacity and techniques to produce super-original rice varieties.

Mr. Huan said: “Growing super pure rice is not too difficult, but this is a “playground” that requires high standards of discipline from farmers and seed quality. Currently, I and the farmers of Khiet Tam Cooperative are growing super pure rice according to orders from the Mekong Delta Rice Institute. This is a job that requires farmers to comply with strict technical standards trained by the Rice Institute, from choosing clean land, arranging isolation distances, caring for each growth stage to harvesting and preservation processes to ensure the purity of the seeds, creating the foundation for crossbreeding to create commercial rice varieties with high yield and value.”

(To be continued)

GROUP OF REPORTERS

Source: https://nhandan.vn/bai-1-lam-chu-canh-dong-cong-nghe-post914254.html