Digital Transformation: Motivation to Build Smart New-Style Rural Areas

Digital transformation is considered a solution to the goal of building a comprehensively developed, ecological, and highly effective agriculture, moving towards modern and smart rural areas. The digital transformation process is being accelerated to support individuals and organizations in applying digital technology to agricultural production.

Lack of legal documents and small-scale, fragmented farming hinder high-tech and digital applications in rural areas

Nam Dinh province has set the goal of building smart new-style rural areas. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Huu, Deputy Chief of the provincial Office for New Rural Development, the province has assigned the Department of Information and Communications to continue promoting training on digital transformation, enhancing the role of community digital technology groups, improving skills in using technology equipment, and expanding Internet access in rural areas.

In Lam Phu hamlet, Giao Phong commune of Giao Thuy district (Nam Dinh), digital transformation is impressive. The entire hamlet is covered by security cameras, its 500-square-meter cultural house is equipped with high-speed WiFi, and 80% of households have WiFi networks installed at home. The number of local products traded via the Internet is growing, especially fish and vegetables, helping to increase consumption and enhance product value. Mr. Pham Van Minh, head of Lam Phu hamlet, said that Lam Phu has become the first hamlet of Giao Phong commune to be recognized as a smart rural area. This contributes to helping the commune meet new rural area standards.

Technology application in agriculture

In Tuong Son commune of Thach Ha district, Ha Tinh province, the Commune People’s Committee issues each household a QR code that integrates all information about citizenship identity, production status, and labor structure. These QR codes, which are connected via the Internet, help local authorities identify households more easily. With a QR code, each resident can raise their concerns and make complaints about issues such as waste management and road traffic through management software. This helps authorities promptly respond and take effective actions to address the issues. In particular, in Ha Thanh village, visitors and residents can easily access information about the village and its households with just one scan of a QR code displayed on the village gate.

Localities are accelerating their digitalization process by building digital maps of agriculture and rural areas, synchronizing databases, managing raw material area codes, and tracing the origin of agricultural products. Agricultural digital maps play an important role because they allow farmers and agribusinesses to gain a better understanding of their land, crops, and livestock. Localities have also flexibly implemented many solutions to promote digital transformation such as applying Internet technologies to managing and tracing the origin of products.

Mr. Phuong Dinh Anh, Deputy Chief of the Central Coordination Office for New Rural Development, stated that in 2022, it advised the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to submit twelve decisions to the Prime Minister for promulgation. The office also advised and submitted six decisions to the Head of the Working Group and submitted one circular and many documents guiding the implementation of the new rural program to the Ministry’s leadership.

However, the actual pilot implementation of the “smart village” model still has several shortcomings. The biggest obstacle is the lack of legal documents stipulating specific criteria and the process of building “smart villages.” Meanwhile, agricultural production in many rural areas is small-scale, fragmented, and unfocused, leading to many difficulties in applying high technology and digital technology.

The digital transformation process is being accelerated to enable individuals and organizations to adopt digital technology for agricultural production

Using multiple digital platforms at the same time is not suitable for traditional farming methods. On the other hand, the quality of human resources in many rural areas does not meet the requirements for applying advanced technology. People’s skills in using information technology in many areas are still limited, and their education level is still low. Therefore, training and capacity building on digital transformation in localities are very necessary.

Mr. Phuong Dinh Anh emphasized the need to organize conferences and training courses on digital transformation and information accessibility for state management agencies, and officials responsible for new rural development at all levels, as well as rural people and communities. He also urged localities to invest in equipment, promote digital transformation in new rural development, strengthen the construction and application of synchronous online public service systems at three levels (province, district, and commune), improve the quality of online public services, and strengthen administrative reform associated with promoting e-government and online public services. In addition, localities need to increase access to telecommunications services and support people in using public information technology equipment in community cultural houses and rural tourist attractions.

By Ngoc Minh, Vietnam Business Forum