Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Nhandan.org.vn, May 27, 2003

Farmers in the three communes have joined e-commerce as their products have gone online. People in different parts of Vietnam and the world can now know about special farm-produce of the local people. These include rice and peanuts of Dong Phong commune, animal husbandry and handicrafts of Khanh Nhac together with woodwork of Ninh Phong. All these products are now introduced in a website of each commune, which introduces about the commune, its products and projects calling for investment. Simple as they are, these websites have helped the local people increase their sales. Nguyen Anh Tuan in Dong Phong commune said that his family had won contracts for its peanuts from import and export companies in Ho Chi Minh City and Lang Son since his farm produce was introduced on the Internet. Vu Van Tuy in Ninh Phong has got more customers for his woodwork products so that he has had to expand production and sent his workers for further training in Dong Ky, Bac Ninh province.

Also via these websites, the local farmers have accessed information about the market demand and effective production models. Nguyen Xuan Nhat, a cadre of the project on launching the website said the local people’s needs for technical improvements were becoming increasingly high, especially for plant saplings and animal breeding species suitable to the conditions of each area. The websites now can provide necessary information to the local farmers.

IT application in production in remote areas is a necessity but there are many difficulties ahead due to lack of capital, equipment and human resources. Therefore, the results are still poor despite being encouraging.

For this project to become more effective, information processing and the dissemination activities should be promoted for each family. This is to help farmers to get access to modern technology for production development, thus helping promote the fight against poverty and hunger.

By NGUYEN MINH NGOC