Can Tho city in preparation for Agritechnica Asia Live 2022

In thorough preparation for the Agritechnica Asia Live 2022 event to take place successfully and leave an impression on farmers, domestic and international businesses, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam chaired a conference on August 16 to report on the organizational works, and review the content of the event in its entirety.

Preparation has been made for demonstration activities including the technology, operation of advanced and modern machinery, equipment applied in sustainable agricultural production, smart rice farming models, demonstration of bio-fertilizer, production rice seed production among many others. Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute has prepared approximately 20 hectares of fields, with 9 models with the participation from 8 demonstrators. The event is expected to attract nearly 4,000 delegates, farmers and experts.

In addition, businesses have conducted 59 demonstration models of smart rice farming in adaptation to climate change in the Mekong Delta, cluster seeding models, etc. at 134 demonstration sites on an area of 135 hectares.

At the Agricultural Extension Centers in the Mekong Delta region, 25 models and extension projects have been demonstrated in the fields of cultivation, forestry, animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, aquatic products, etc. on a scale of more than 2,074 hectares.

Accompanying the demonstration of experimental mechanization in the field was a series of international workshops and thematic workshops on: Synchronous mechanization towards sustainable agriculture, summary of the CORIGAP program, consultation for constructing a Center for Mechanization in the Mekong Delta, mechanizing fruit production in Tien Giang province and mechanizing production, farming and fishing in Soc Trang province. This series of workshops will take place from August 22 to August 25, 2022.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam, noted that the content of these workshops must be closely related to reality, demonstrating the role of human resource training for synchronous mechanization. As a result, they will help farmers and businesses gain more experience in production and business. Additionally, the Deputy Minister emphasized that this is a key international event of Vietnam's agricultural sector in 2022, bearing the special imprint of the Mekong Delta. This is also an opportunity for participants to quickly and effectively access modern technologies. The event will also create a playground for domestic and foreign businesses to promote products, modern technology, as well as promote exchange and cooperation in the field of agriculture. Therefore, all preparations for the event must be considerate and thorough to ensure a successful event.

The Government has paid special attention and provided many policies to support agricultural development and agricultural mechanization in particular, such as: Favorable credit policy, interest rate to support procurers of machinery and equipment agriculture, or VAT exemption policy for the import of specialized agricultural machinery and equipment among others. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has also lauched the policy on development of mechanization. However, in comparision with the annual average income of an agricultural worker at approximately 43 million VND, the application of mechanization is still considerably limited. This has urged the Government to promote synchronous mechanization in agricultural production, apply smart and environmentally friendly technologies, in order to move towards digital transformation and automation of agricultural production as a necessary solution.

The upcoming Agritechnica Asia Live 2022 event will be strong message, calling for the entire political system to get involved in the common goal of building ecological agriculture, modern countryside, smart farmers, towards sustainable development.

The Agritechnica Asia Live 2022 event with the theme "Synchronized mechanization towards sustainable agriculture" is chaired by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Can Tho City People's Committee, in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the German Agricultural Association (DLG).

The goal of the event is to scale the application of 4.0 agriculture and smart technologies through live demonstrations of mechanization and digital agriculture. Additionally, the event's participants will propose policies and roadmap for the application of technology towards sustainable agricultural economic transformation, appropriate to the actual context of each field and each country.