The Prime Minister awarded the Certificate of Merit for National Outstanding Performance in 2023 to businessman Dang Duong Minh Hoang

Digital Farmer

In order to export agricultural products to demanding markets such as Japan, Europe, the US, etc., many businesses , cooperatives, and farmers have gradually applied digital technology to manage and monitor fruit trees. In fact, this is a highly effective direction, contributing to creating a prestigious brand for Vietnam's key fruits.

As an automation engineer, trained and worked for several years in France, Dang Duong Minh Hoang was once “hunted” by many domestic and foreign enterprises with dream salaries. However, ignoring the attractive offers, he returned to his hometown Binh Phuoc and started farming.

Dang Duong Minh Hoang's direction has been digital agriculture since the beginning. Up to now, Thien Nong Farm is applying high technology and techniques to agricultural production, such as using rooftop solar power, a camera system to monitor the entire garden, unmanned equipment to spray pesticides to prevent and treat plant diseases, and AutoAgri electronic diary to trace the origin through labels/QR codes, showing full information about the products.

Thien Nong Farm is a pioneer in building growing area codes for fruit trees, “digitizing” each crop. Specifically, each crop has an electronic diary, through which, when purchasing the product, consumers will know through the QR code which day the tree was watered and fertilized; how the fruit was harvested and how it was transported…

TALKING WITH BUSINESSMAN DANG DUONG MINH HOANG

What do you think about the digital transformation journey in agriculture?

When it comes to digital transformation, many people think that this is a very big thing, but in fact, let's start with the daily things, such as determining the humidity, pH, or whether this soil is suitable for crops... We have to use technology and measuring equipment, from there we can cultivate in a harmonious and friendly way with nature. The journey of digital transformation in agriculture comes from very small things.

What are the sweet fruits that digital agriculture brings to Thien Nong Binh Phuoc, sir?

Thanks to digitalization, we have exported avocados to several markets such as Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia and soon China.

When using electronic diary software, importers, the Chinese Customs Department and some units highly appreciated it and recommended that Vietnamese cooperatives should apply this model to make the fruit tree care process transparent.

How do you evaluate the construction of digital agricultural community?

In fact, each person has their own strengths. Personally, I can digitize each crop to build a diverse ecosystem in the agricultural community. This activity alone is complex enough. Therefore, building more activities related to digital agriculture requires the participation of more young people. I believe that, with solidarity, cooperation, and sharing, the young generation of Vietnam will contribute to bringing Vietnamese agriculture to the world level.

“The agricultural sector depends a lot on labor, discipline, and weather… Therefore, since I was a child, I have seen that mechanization and automation will help farmers be less dependent on many factors and take the initiative in the “game”, especially in terms of output for agricultural products”, CEO Minh Hoang shared.

Currently, Dang Duong Minh Hoang's Thien Nong Farm has a total area of ​​50 hectares, of which 30 hectares are rubber, 8 hectares are pepper and 12 hectares are avocado. Ong Hoang avocado brand meets VietGAP standards, is in the top of clean fruit products and the pepper garden is certified by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as the world's leading USDA organic certificate...

Hoang said that all plants in the garden can be monitored remotely, thanks to the application of Internet of Things (IoT) technology to plants.

Thanks to the application of the most modern technology in production, Ong Hoang avocado brand is now present in foreign supermarkets such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia... Meanwhile, pepper products are produced organically and signed a contract with Nedspice - the leading spice group in the Netherlands.

Building a digital agricultural community

Hoang's digital model in agriculture has achieved many successes and attracted many people's attention. "If you want to go far, you have to go together" is the guiding principle on his journey of agricultural development. He decided to establish Binh Phuoc Digital Agricultural Service Cooperative to build a digital agricultural community.

“Digitalization in agriculture and green production will bring high economic value to farmers. However, the cost of certifying standards such as VietGAP, Global GAP and management software is very expensive. To harmonize the interests in the production chain, the associated households and cooperatives sign contracts with members on investment and closed purchasing. Investment costs will be calculated at a certain level for each product. With this approach, the participating parties can go further together,” Mr. Hoang shared.

Recently, Binh Phuoc Digital Agricultural Service Cooperative welcomed a delegation from the Chief of Office of the Lao Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to visit and learn about the digital agricultural model and cooperate in developing LaoAgri software to create more conditions to support Lao farmers in digital transformation.

LaoAgri is a version of AutoAgri - a platform built by cooperative members, including Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuc (Chairman of Bagico Company, Bac Giang Province). Currently, Binh Phuoc Digital Agricultural Services Cooperative has 12 official members and all are instructed to use the AutoAgri software.

In addition, this software has also been digitally deployed for more than 1,400 facilities in Binh Phuoc province. Through this, the Cooperative has been improving production processes, applying digital logs in production for farmers, optimizing resources, committing to clean and green products for the market, and protecting consumer health.

CEO Thien Nong Binh Phuoc likened that if we only stop at developing agriculture in Binh Phuoc, sometimes we will be like a “prestigious country girl”, but without our own brand. However, if we are pioneers in digital agriculture, Thien Nong in particular and the Cooperative in general can become “beauty queens”, position their brands, be connected and develop more.

In addition, from 2023, Thien Nong Farm will cooperate with the Department of Science and Technology of Binh Phuoc province to develop a "gamification" model - taking care of each avocado tree in particular and fruit trees in general, contributing to perfecting the new smart cooperative economic model and increasing the value of agricultural production in Binh Phuoc province.

“This is to automate the process of cultivation, identification and care of avocado trees, which will be one of the steps to create momentum to bring experimental agriculture to the majority of people, promoting regional economic development,” said CEO Minh Hoang.

Step by step change traditional agriculture

According to Mr. Minh Hoang, small-scale, inefficient production models and lack of value chain linkages are always obstacles to the progress of Vietnamese agriculture. Therefore, in addition to investing in processing technology, focusing on market development, etc., digital transformation will help farmers improve productivity, quality, optimize production, reduce costs, provide transparent information, and connect supply and demand.

Therefore, he has coordinated with Binh Phuoc province to conduct many “knowledge trips” to transfer technology, especially electronic diaries to many young entrepreneurs in the province. At the same time, he shared inspiration for starting a business at a number of universities such as Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Thu Dau Mot University (Binh Duong), Ho Chi Minh City Banking University, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, etc.

In the near future, Minh Hoang and the Center for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion of Binh Phuoc province plan to jointly build a project to utilize cashew waste. Thereby, cashews will be recycled to make wine; utilized as fertilizer for plants, to stimulate flowering, nourish plants, as well as biological herbicides.

However, according to Minh Hoang, the actions of an individual or an organization are not enough on the journey to change traditional agriculture. He hopes to have policies to support farmers in applying information technology to agricultural production, especially applying electronic diaries to help digital transformation in agriculture.

“Popularizing the use of electronic diaries for farmers, helping localities systematize data, build a connection chain between farmers and the final purchasing channel, reducing intermediaries to bring stability to local products… is the most important thing,” CEO Thien Nong hopes.

With his achievements and contributions to the development of digital agriculture, in 2022, Dang Duong Minh Hoang was honored by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union as an Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer, and was especially awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Prime Minister for being a National Advanced Model in 2023. Most recently, Dang Duong Minh Hoang was included in the list of Ten Outstanding Young Vietnamese Faces in 2023 announced by the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/businessman-dang-duong-minh-hoang-giam-doc-nong-trai-thien-nong-binh-phuoc-di-dau-trong-so-hoa-toi-tung-cay-an-trai-d214081.html