HANOI: Vietnam needs to accelerate the development of a unified national database for farming areas to comply with the European Union’s anti-deforestation regulation (EUDR) and support the digital transformation of agriculture, experts say.
Experts said at a conference held by Network for Agriculture and Forestry Policy Research that fragmented data systems and limited information sharing among government agencies, businesses and farmers remain major obstacles to compliance with the EUDR.
The compliance requires exporters of commodities such as coffee, rubber and cocoa to prove their products are not linked to deforestation.
Ha Cong Tuan, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, said a national database covering all agricultural land, rather than only export-oriented production areas, is essential for meeting international standards and improving sector governance.
Pham Dinh Lai, director of the Dien Bien Province Agriculture Sub-Department, said the expansion of coffee-growing areas has faced problems in collecting and managing cultivation data due to limited funding, technical capacity and challenges in gathering geospatial information, such as coordinates, land parcels and land-use status.
The province has adopted an approach that places communes at the centre of data collection efforts.
This has shown promising results, with farmers becoming more engaged in data collection and gaining a better understanding of market requirements for traceability, Lai said.
He added that stronger participation from businesses would be needed, particularly in data sharing, farmer training and monitoring compliance with EUDR requirements. — Viet Nam News/ANN
