Applying digital technology in agricultural production

Digital technology is being widely developed in all areas of life. In agriculture, production facilities and people are gradually applying digital technology to help change the way of working, improve the quality, value and efficiency of products.

Efficiency from applying digital technology

Moc Bac Dairy and Cattle Breeding Joint Stock Company, Moc Bac Commune (Duy Tien Town) operates in a closed process, from raising dairy cows to processing fresh cow milk products to supply the market. Currently, the unit is promoting the application of digital technology in most stages of production, processing, and product consumption to improve product quality and business efficiency.

Applying digital technology in agricultural production — **Mr. Nguyen Van Can, Director of Moc Bac Dairy and Cattle Breeding Joint Stock Company, is monitoring the cow farm using a surveillance camera system.**

Through research, it is known that digital technology is applied right from the stage of processing feed for dairy cows, calculated on the computer to produce the best nutritional formula, such as: The ratio of green food, concentrated food, minerals... The reproduction of the cow herd is installed and monitored for estrus cycles, insemination, and expected date of birth on the computer to ensure high accuracy and efficiency, this is the decisive stage for dairy farming. Maintaining the temperature according to the regime in the barn is also automatically set, always ensuring it is below 30oC, when the temperature rises, the fan and misting system automatically operates. The quality of milk products is managed by software. Cleaning the barn is also done by an automatic dredging machine... Each dairy cow on the farm is assigned a unique code for convenient monitoring and updating information. The unit installed 12 cameras in the farm area to help monitor and supervise all stages of production...

It is known that the farm currently has 80 dairy cows, with more than 30 cows giving milk. The farm's daily milk output is from 200 - 300kg. The entire amount of fresh cow's milk is processed by the company into dairy products on a modern production line to supply the market, such as: Pasteurized fresh milk, drinking yogurt, purple sticky rice yogurt, white yogurt... From the way of managing and applying digital technology to the production process, creating quality products, the company has been granted a European certificate for dairy farming. The company's dairy products are sold not only at chain stores and supermarkets but also expanded on e-commerce sites. Mr. Nguyen Van Can, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director of the company, said: The application of digital technology brings great efficiency to the business. Costs in the production process are minimized, product quality is maintained at a stable high level. The labor force for production is reduced by more than 70% compared to manual work.

For other areas of agricultural production, digital technology is being applied to reduce costs, prices, and improve product quality and efficiency. For example, the production of cordyceps mushrooms by Minh Duc Herbal Medicine Company in Cong Ly Commune (Ly Nhan) is carried out in an air-conditioned house. Here, the entire environment, temperature, and humidity that help cordyceps mushrooms grow best are automatically managed using digital technology. Therefore, the quality indicators of cordyceps products are analyzed and highly appreciated by the authorities. The product has been certified as OCOP (One Commune One Product Program), rated 3 stars. Even in field production, digital technology has been applied to some stages. For example, in grape production in Trac Van Commune (Duy Tien Town) and at Dong Du High-Tech Agricultural Cooperative (Binh Luc), products ready for harvest are measured for indicators, especially sugar content, to ensure they meet the best standards. Greenhouses and net houses are equipped with water-saving irrigation systems, with timers, controlled by smartphones. Many quality products when put on the market have been labeled to help consumers easily trace their origins... Mr. Pham Van Duc, Director of Dong Du High-Tech Agricultural Cooperative shared: The application of digital technology by the cooperative is being deployed at some stages to greatly support production. The cooperative is continuing to invest in bringing digital technology into the stages of care and quality assessment to create the best possible products...

Promoting the application of digital technology in production

Mr. Truong Quoc Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: Applying digital technology creates a new step forward for agricultural production in the province. This is a step-by-step direction for industrialization and modernization of agriculture. The industry is continuing to deploy and support establishments to effectively apply digital technology to production.

In fact, the agricultural sector is actively promoting the application of digital technology in the production process. Models associated with digital technology have been built, such as: high-tech agricultural production, fish farming using "river in pond" technology, dairy farming and processing of fresh cow's milk products... Promoting the implementation of the OCOP program, in which it guides and supports establishments producing stamps and labels for traceability of origin; selling on e-commerce sites and some other stages. From this direction, many quality agricultural products of the province have been widely supplied to the market. Recently, the sector has been actively building and granting growing area codes for rice, fruit, vegetable, and fruit growing areas, which is a direction to bring digital technology into the production process. Granting growing area codes helps trace the origin and ensure production according to technical processes that meet the requirements of importing countries. At the same time, people are more aware of production, ensuring quality and increasing product prices... In fact, production areas that have applied digital technology all have value and profits that are at least 10-15% higher than similar products outside.

However, it is also necessary to recognize that the application of digital technology to agricultural production in the province is still in its early stages, only appearing in certain stages and models. The main difficulty at present is that people's production is still mostly small-scale. Farmers' qualifications are still limited, leading to difficulty in accessing digital technology. Along with that, to apply digital technology, it is necessary to invest in facilities and equipment for synchronous production with large investment funds...

The province’s agriculture is moving towards concentrated production, creating quality products (safe, VietGAP, organic, etc.). At the same time, forming a value chain in production and product consumption. Applying digital technology to production is an inevitable direction and requirement that needs to continue to overcome difficulties and be expanded in the coming time.

Manh Hung

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