On 13 July last, the workshop entitled “Aligning needs with solutions: Data-driven innovation for Vietnam’s agriculture sector” brought together 120 farmers, as well as researchers, technical service providers and government representatives. Through the Agroecology Learning alliance in South East Asia – Alisea, the regional multi-stakeholder platform to promote agroecology coordinated by GRET and its partners – including the International Centre for tropical agriculture (CIAT) – the latter presented an experiment concretely applying the use of data collected via mobiles in the agricultural sector.
Using a mobile application, Rice growers in Cho Moi, a town in the south of Vietnam, located in the Mekong delta, were invited to send formatted data on their agricultural activities and on their practices. This data concerns localisation of farms for example, or quantities of water, chemical inputs used for crops, etc. Once processed, the data can be shared via a QR code with consumers who can thus be informed of the environmental footprint of the product for sale.
This initiative, currently being tested among twenty rice growers, will soon be extended to other Vietnamese farmers. This first experience makes it possible to envisage future collection of more varied data, for example to help diagnose a disease based on a photo sent by a farmer.
