Lam Dong Moves Toward Digitally Responsible Agriculture
Facing increasingly stringent market demands for quality and transparency, enterprises and farmers in Lam Dong are accelerating the integration of traceability technologies, thereby bolstering consumer confidence and increasing the value of local agricultural products.
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Building a Foundation for Traceability
Acknowledging the crucial role of traceability in promoting sustainable agricultural development, the Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee has proactively launched several programs and initiatives to advance traceability.
The Department of Science and Technology has been designated as the lead agency to provide policy guidance, formulate implementation plans, and issue key decisions to establish a legal framework for traceability efforts throughout the province.
Support for traceability has been incorporated into key initiatives, including the National Program to support Enterprises in Enhancing Productivity and Product Quality for the 2021-2025 period, as well as the project linking agriculture with the processing sector, expanding export markets, and integrating into global value chains.
The province has also established local technical standards for specific, distinctive products, particularly guidelines on food safety requirements for facilities that process Lam Dong artichoke tea.
In addition to enhancing institutional frameworks, Lam Dong is concentrating on advancing digital infrastructure to aid traceability. This initiative includes developing a provincial database system for products and goods, along with shared information portals that enable businesses and cooperatives to easily generate and manage QR codes for their products, working toward synchronized integration with the National Traceability Information Portal.
Traceability Codes Help Expand Markets
The adoption of traceability systems not only supports management activities but also brings practical benefits to producers and consumers.
Through electronic traceability labels, all information related to the origin of raw materials, production processes, processing stages, and product distribution is made transparent, allowing buyers to easily verify product quality.
In fact, facilities that implement traceability alongside advanced quality management frameworks such as VietGAP, HACCP, GMP, and HALAL have seen a 15–20% increase in product consumption. More significantly, traceability plays a vital role in transforming disjointed production practices, fostering supply chain connections, and strengthening producers’ accountability for food safety.
Traceability labeling serves as a powerful deterrent against counterfeiting while facilitating seamless integration with modern distribution channels, retail networks, and e-commerce platforms.
As stated by officials from the Lam Dong Department of Science and Technology, traceability is more than just issuing QR codes; it aims to create an integrated data ecosystem. By digitizing the entire production process, companies can more effectively manage product quality and identify potential risks.
From a business perspective, Ms. Nguyen Thi Toan, Director of Thinh Phat Agriculture – Herbal – Service – Trading Cooperative in Quang Son Commune, said that attaching traceability labels helps the cooperative clearly demonstrate the origins of raw materials and processing methods, making it easier to participate in e-commerce platforms and access export markets.
So far, the entire province has 42 facilities applying traceability systems, more than 250 enterprises and production units using electronic labels, and 47 facilities with 177 OCOP-certified products and outstanding rural industrial products joining the system. Communication and training activities have also been implemented synchronously to raise community awareness.
Nevertheless, some small and medium-sized businesses remain reluctant due to upfront costs, and certain facilities have yet to fully meet the requirements to link to the National Traceability Information Portal.
In the near future, Lam Dong will continue to advance awareness campaigns and offer assistance to businesses for registering and implementing traceability systems. The province will also broaden this model to include key agricultural products like Da Lat Arabica coffee, Da Huoai durian, and safe vegetables, while enhancing inspections and addressing violations.
In the context of smart consumption trends and deeper international integration, the transparency of product information through traceability is not only an inevitable requirement but also a crucial foundation for Lam Dong’s agricultural products to develop sustainably and gradually conquer both domestic and international markets