A meat product bears a traceability label. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is developing a mobile application for the national agricultural product traceability system, aiming to make it easier for people and businesses to search for and access traceability information.

Nguyễn Quang Tin, deputy director of the ministry’s Department of Science and Technology, said that to date, 10 technology solution providers, four agricultural production and trading businesses, and five provinces and cities have connected or are in the process of connecting to the ministry’s traceability system.

The system currently records around 814,000 products from 3,000 farming households, more than 200 businesses and 24 of the country’s 34 provinces and cities registered for traceability.

Of these, around 158,000 products from 48 farming households and 20 businesses in 14 provinces and cities have undergone traceability.

The ministry is continuing to standardise data, finalise connection standards, expand the system’s scope and work with local authorities, businesses and cooperatives to gradually integrate existing data into the ministry’s shared system.

Regarding technical infrastructure, Tin said the ministry had allocated 40 servers to support the operation of the agricultural product traceability system.

Two access platforms have also been put into operation and undergone information security assessments, meeting requirements for people and businesses to register products and conduct traceability searches.

The ministry's Department of Digital Transformation is working on subsequent versions of the system to make them better suited to implementation in localities and businesses.

Alongside efforts to improve the system, the ministry has worked with the National Data Centre under the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Science and Technology to establish infrastructure connections.

The Ministry of Public Security is currently drafting a decree on identification and authentication for the traceability of products and goods, including agricultural products.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has made the necessary technical preparations to establish the connection and begin implementation as soon as the decree is issued.

In the coming period, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment will focus on completing the legal framework, including drafting a circular on connecting to and implementing the system for specific product groups, namely agriculture, forestry, fisheries and livestock.

The circular must be finalised in tandem with the Ministry of Public Security’s decree on identification and authentication for product traceability.

The agricultural ministry will also continue working with technology solution providers to finalise data standards, connection procedures and operational processes for each product group, particularly procedures for tracing products back to their source.

Subsequent upgraded versions of the system will be developed and refined based on practical requirements.

Meanwhile, the ministry will continue guiding provincial and municipal departments of Agriculture and Environment, while working alongside businesses and cooperatives to accelerate the integration of data from localities and production and trading establishments into the national traceability system.

The establishment of a unified traceability system is expected to help standardise and integrate agricultural product data, strengthen the management and control of product origins, and support businesses in meeting increasingly stringent requirements in both domestic and export markets. — VNS