Vietnam’s agriculture sector is poised for growth, with the uptake of new ‘smart agriculture’ technologies offering alternatives to traditional labour and water intensive production methods. Agriculture is already a strong pillar of Australia and Vietnam’s trade relationship and bilateral cooperation, and Australian exporters are well placed to help meet this growing market demand for AgTech solutions.
Asialink Business, in collaboration with food and agriculture innovation agency, Beanstalk, is delighted to receive funding for a new project aimed at building business awareness about Vietnam’s rapidly developing AgTech sector.
Part of the Australia-Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Grant (AVEG) pilot program funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the project will equip exporters with practical information and understanding of the consumer landscape and emerging trends.
Announcing the funding on 1 July, the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan, said the AVEG pilot program would open doors and unlock opportunities for Australian industries.
“Australia is working with Vietnam to grow our trade relationship, with an aim to become top ten trade partners and double investment,” Mr Tehan said.
“These grants are part of our early harvest activities to support Australian businesses to engage with Vietnam,” Mr Tehan said.
The Vietnam-Australia two-way trade relationship has grown on average by 8.6% each year over the past twenty years. Vietnam has the fastest growing middle class in Southeast Asia, a COVID-resilient GDP growth rate (2.9% in 2020), a young population and a high reliance on agriculture related industries to support local livelihoods.
“The agricultural industry in Vietnam is at an inflection point,” explains Asialink Business Director of Advisory & Insights, Rob Law, who is overseeing the project.
“But if it embraces new technologies, Vietnam’s agrifood industry is strongly positioned to be the proving ground for agri-innovation in the Mekong,” Law says.
As a long-term partner, Australia’s agricultural technology ecosystem is well positioned to help address these challenges and be part of Vietnam’s technology revolution.
The program will leverage and amplify Beanstalk’s experience leading the GRAFT Vietnam Challenge 2021, established and delivered by Beanstalk and its local Vietnam partners. This is the region’s first land and launch program for AgTech scaleups, solving industry identified challenges with solutions spanning integrated IoT solutions to improve water quality in local aquaculture systems, microbial solutions for environmentally-friendly crop health management, and microclimate monitoring and control systems for safer and more energy-efficient piggeries, amongst other examples.
The new project will feature a business-focussed sector report outlining the AgTech opportunity, practical case studies and an industry launch to share the research findings. The research will be released later this year.