VIETNAM
TOWARDS LOW CARBON
AGRICULTURE
TRANSFORMATION: ROLE OF
DIGITAL AGRICULTURE
TECHNOLOGIES
Dina Umali-Deininger
Practice Manager, Agriculture and Food Global
Practice for East Asia and Pacific, World Bank


Vietnam’s Agricultural Success and Opportunities for the Future
Vietnam remains a global agriculture powerhouse
•
•

Ag export revenue grew from US$10 billion in 2000 to over
US$40 billion by 2020.
Vietnam is top exporter of many commodities
Top exporter in cashew

2nd top exporter of coffee
64.7

Vietnam

Brazil
Vietnam
Colombia
Indonesia
Ethiopia

Honduras
India
U ganda
Mexico
Peru

11.5
7.6
5.7
2.1
0.9
0.9
0.8
0.6

India
N etherlands
Germany
Brazil
Ivory Coast
Indonesia
Mozambique
U SA
0

17.1
8.4
7.1
4.3
3.6

3.4
3.3
2.4
2.2

37.4

0 10 20 30 40 50 6 0 70 8 0 90 100

10 20 30 40 50 6 0 70 8 0 90 100

3rd top exporter of rice
India
Thailand
Vietnam
Pakistan
U SA
China
Mynamar
Italy
Brazil

27.9
17.6
9.9
9.1
7.7
4.6
4.4
2.5

1.5
0 10 20 30 40 50 6 0 70 8 0 90 100


Sustaining Vietnam’s Agriculture Growth Faces Many
Challenges

Agric. sector growth slowing - TFP’s
contribution to sector growth is declining

%

5

1991-2000

2001-2005

2006-2018

• Water-use inefficiency
• Over-use of fertilizers and pesticides
• Pollution from rice residue burning

4

• Soil degradation,
erosion, land
subsidence
• Forest and

ecosystem
degradation

Unsustainable
intensification

Environmental
degradation

Slowing agric growth,
rising GHG emissions

Worsening effects of
climate change

3

2

1

0

China

Malaysia Indonesia

India

Vietnam Philippines Thailand


• Lower yields and incomes
• Lower productivity growth
• Higher GHG emissions

•Sea-level rise
• Salt-water intrusion
• Adverse climate
events


Agriculture is now a Major Contributor to Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Total emissions (Mil. tons CO2eq) and
contributions by sectors (%)

Rice System : Major contributor of
Methane & Nitrous Oxide
Emissions!

Rice cultivation
enteric
fermentation/livestoc
k
synthetic fertilizers
manure management
manure left on
pasture
manure supplied to
soils
crop residues

others


Vietnam Government’s Strategic Priorities for Sustainable Agricultural
Development
Agricultural Restructuring
Program

To promote agricultural
transformation: Phase III (20212025) focuses towards low-carbon
development and climate change
adaptation.

Economic
Ag. Growth: 2,6-3%/year
(2011-2015), 3,5 4,0%/year 2021-2025

Social
Income growth: 2008-2020: 2,5 Environment
Forest coverage: 42%
times
New Rural Communes: 20% by by2025
2015 and 50% by 2025

NDC targets

Green Growth Strategy (Decision
1658/QĐ-TTg)
Strategic Orientations for Agriculture and Rural
Development


6.8 million
tCO2eq/year
GHG emission reduction
compared to BAU.
Unconditional without intl.
Support
by 2030

25.8 million
tCO2eq/year
Emission reduction
compared to the BAU
with intl. Support
by 2030

• Formulate and
implement tasks to
develop an efficient,
sustainable, lowemissions
commodity
agricultural sector in
the direction of a
circular economy,
• climate
Developsmart
and and
resilience.
implement
programs and

projects on the
protection and
restoration of
ecosystems and
biodiversity in
agriculture, forestry
and fisheries,
recovery and
increase of carbon
sequestration.

• Promote market
linkages in product
value chains, and
improve
competitiveness of
green, safe and
organic agricultural
products, meeting
international and
domestic standards.
• Accelerate the new
rural development
in a green and
sustainable direction
with more
communes meeting
new rural
development
criteria.



Digital Innovations Important for Vietnam’s Low Carbon Agriculture Development


Wide Scope for Scaling up Innovative Digital Solutions

ICT Platforms
•

Mobile apps

Digital solutions

Precision farming

• Farm

• Using sensors to
monitor climate
data, soil moisture
and nutrients to
reduce inputs and
improve yields (i.e.,
vegetable farming
and coffee)

Connecting

Management


farmers with

software allows

reputable

automation in

spraying service

feeding, counting,

providers, e-

identifying, tracing

extension

movement of
animals,
preventing risks of
disease epidemic
outbreaks

Market access
• Farmers
livestream to
market farm
produce

• E-commerce
platforms connect
farmers to markets
through mobile
apps

Agriculture
observatory
• Earth observation
satellites to monitor
rice-growing areas
using radar-based
remote sensing data to
map information (area
planted, maturity, crop
calendar, productivity
indicators, number of
harvests per year)
• Help policy markers in
planning and
monitoring production


Digital Low Carbon Agriculture Solutions in Vietnam, Some Early Successes
IOT Alt. Wet and Dry System for Rice
in Mekong Delta

•

Water savings: Using IOT AWD

in rice reduces water use by
42% compared to non-AWD
farming (continuously flooded
irrigation)

•

GHG emissions: 60-70%
reduction (4-6 tons CO2e/ha/crop)

•

Farmer Production cost: 22%
less

•

Yields: increase by 24%

IOT on coffee in Central
Highlands
• IOT on coffee yields
same encouraging
results on water, energy
and labor savings, but
GHG reduction not been
measured


Digital

Agriculture:
Public-Private
Partnerships
in Kenya


Digital Agriculture Observatory

Satellite Radar

Providing agricultural intelligence:“Early Warning for
Early Action”

Ground Radar

Virtual Met
Station
Farmer’s Field

Ground
Weather
Station

• 1.5 million Virtual Met Stations
• Every 9 km across the terrestrial
surface of the earth
• 7 billion data points updated every 6
hours



Ghana: Providing localized, proactive & timely insight
for farmers
Using a data driven
approach, each farmer
receives information
relevant to their current
situation

Source: ESOKO


Kenya: Ag Tech Start ups under the One Million Farmer Platform PPP

DigiCow:
Hello Tractor: Uberizing farm
Uber of Veterinary Services mechanization

SunCulture:
Solar powered irrigation

Digital Green: video-based
extension service

TruTrade Africa:
Increasing Market access and price

Digitally enabled supply
chain finance: AgriWallet

AgroCares: IoT soil scanner


Weather-index based Crop and Livestock
insurance: ACRE Africa

Sourcing Digital Solutions through Innovation Challenge
• One Million Farmer Platform launched in April 2019 through an innovation challenge and facilitated partnerships
between 16 County governments and 14 Agriculture Tech Start ups /Innovators and County Government
• Currently 24 AgTech start ups and innovators providing Data-driven Digital Agriculture solutions and services through
partnerships with 26 County Governments


PPPs: Innovation Challenges – Solution Marketplaces - Hackathons

CHINA

MONGOLIA

(Henan Green Agriculture Fund Project)

(Livestock Commercialization Project)

INNOVATION THEMES
Reducing GHG Emission & Improving
Resource-use Efficiency
Reducing Agriculture Pollution
Enhancing Food Safety
Increasing Climate Resilience

INNOVATION THEMES
Low Carbon Agriculture & Climate Smart

Livestock
Animal Health & Nutrition Services
Digital Livestock Services
Enhancing Resilience to Climate Risks Shocks

Partners
CAAS, CAU, SDC, Syngenta Foundation, Swiss Re, Beijing
IOT Association, Henan Dept of Agriculture
Outcome
83 Green Agric Technologies: 6 Selected
AI based automated and precision agriculture, Biofeeds,
and Bio-organic trace elements for controlling livestock
emissions

Partners
IFC, FAO, EU, JICA, KOICA, ADB, Commercial Banks, Impact
Investors, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry
Outcome
163 Service Innovations: 57 Proposals Shortlisted
Sustainable value chains, drones, blockchains, eCommerce,
high health animal husbandry, nature-based solutions for
agri-livestock

INDONESIA
(Agriculture Value Chain Devt Project, upcoming)

INNOVATION THEMES
Enhancing Farm Productivity
Improving Resilience to Climate Shocks
Improving Access to Finance, Markets and

Services
Agrifood Systems Governance
Partners
Microsoft, TaniHub Group, GIZ, and 7 other key players,
the Ministry of Agriculture and West Java Provincial
Government
Outcome
30 Innovations Submitted: 3 selected
AI-powered crop protection and management platform,
mobile supply chain management software, electronic
marketing platform linking traditional markets


Fuxin Tea Cooperative under WB Guizhou Rural Development
Project: Linking Farmer Cooperatives to E-commerce

• Coop with 294 tea
producing households
(24% poor)
• Project support for
sustainable tea
farming, tea
processing facilities,
packaging, quality
upgrading,
certification, branding
and marketing (ecommerce), training
and capacity building



Shenzen, China: Investing in Digital Markets to Promote
Food Quality and Safety
• Modernizing and upgrading: application of intelligent measurement
instruments, merchant information screens and network support
services, etc.,

Measurement
supervision

Henggang Farmers Market

Price monitoring
Food
traceability/reduce food
loss

Qinghu Agriculture Product
Wholesale Market


Moving to Low Carbon Agriculture Development: Requires
reorienting and repurposing expenditures towards greening
agriculture
State spending in agriculture, VND Billion

Composition of agricultural support measures (2000-2018)

90,000
8 0,000
70,000

6 0,000
50,000
40,000

61848

30,000
20,000
28 8 55
10,000
0

2011-2014

Other sub-sectors
Fishery
Irrigation

2016 -2020

Education, trainings
Forestry

Science & Technology
Agriculture


Developing Digital Agriculture: Priority Areas

Capacity building and

knowledge sharing

Digital agricultural
skills training for
farmers and extension
officers
Improving University
curriculum for digital
agriculture

Strengthening
Institutional and
complementary
infrastructure

Fostering digital
agriculture
entrepreneurship

Digitizing of MARD Systems

Promote Public-private
sector partnerships

Digitizing services for efficiency
and transparency (farmer ID,
Agriculture Observatory, evouchers)

Partner with Private Sector
Accelerator Funds

Promote digital tech and
services start-ups.

Enabling policy
environment

Digital agricultural Strategy
Public expenditure realignment
Regulatory reforms to support
agri-tech development
Promoting rural digital
infrastructure to enhance
access.

17


THANK YOU!

Dina Umali-Deininger
Practice Manager, Agriculture and Food Global
Practice for East Asia and Pacific, World Bank