HCM City (VNS/VNA) -Agricultural start-ups should capitalise on the huge demandfor safe agricultural products by developing long-term, sustainableproduction strategies, experts said at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on June6.

Prof. Phan Van Truong, headof the Vietnamese Agricultural Start-up Club, said that although Vietnam’sagricultural sector was growing fast, farmers remained concerned about salesand revenues. 

The country has diverseagricultural products, but does not have a consumer market based on actualsupply and demand, he said, adding that farmerssometimes lowered prices to sell their products and compete withrivals.

“It’s difficult to build a brandfor Vietnamese agricultural products because of low economic value,” he said.

The number of start-ups inthe agricultural sector remains low because farmers are not aware of thestart-up ecosystem and quality standards for agricultural products, hesaid.

Dr. Duong Hoai Giang Ha, Directorof the InterEducation Vietnam Institute, said the country’s agricultural productswere not properly priced. 

“Farmers only pay attention toproducing raw agricultural products instead of creating added value for theproducts,” he said. 

Most of thefarming start-ups do not share information and business opportunitieswith each other, making it difficult to build agricultural markets. 

Seb Tran, a marketing expert,and CMO and founder of Shi Marcoms Ltd Co, said that most Vietnamesestart-ups had not clearly defined their objectives for eachdevelopment stage of their business. 

Most start-ups want to quicklysell products to recover capital and are not patient enough to buildmarketing and branding strategies for the products, he said. 

Le Trong Kha, Director of LekhaMart, said that even though the Agricultural Start-up Club has 73,000members, most of them do not work closely with one another.

To be successful, agriculturalstart-ups must build a long-term business strategy and strengthen linkages ina start-up ecosystem. 

Developing safe agriculture canhelp the sector grow in a more sustainable manner, experts said atthe seminar. 

Vietnam is nowformulating norms for food safety and environmental hygiene, whichwill form the groundwork toward sustainable development.

Andy Nhan Huynh, a businesstraining specialist, said that high-quality agricultural products arein high demand, so the agriculture sector is a promising sector forinvestors. 

Some companies that hadpreviously invested only in real estate and trade, for example, becamesuccessful after pouring money into agricultural and foodproducts.  

Their success, however, dependedon strong financial resources, and their branding and distribution systems.

Many agricultural start-upsare households or individuals who do not have enough resources todevelop. 

Because of their limitations,these start-ups should be connected to an ecosystem where they can exploitthe strengths of other firms, he said.

Bui Hong Quan, Director of theSouthern Institute of Biotechnology, said that only a few start-upshad been successful in the safe food sector.

He said that start-ups needto invest for the long term and should not expect profitsimmediately like other commercial activities or services. 

A programme was launched the sameday by The Saigon Times Startup Club to help connect smallagricultural start-ups with similar models and ideas. 

The programme’s advisory boardconsists of entrepreneurs with real-life experience in starting a business.They will provide advice on how to optimise resources, minimiserisks and save costs, and will also offer training.

HCM City has set the goalof having 500,000 firms by 2020, with at least 1,500 of them operating inagriculture, under the Government’s Resolution No.35 on developing enterprises.

In recent years, more than 300agricultural firms have been established, bringing the total to more than 1,300in the city. 

The city offers preferentialloans to these firms and promotes the establishmentof agricultural cooperatives.

In addition, zero-interest loansare being offered to high-tech agricultural projects, underthe city's agricultural restructuring plan for 2017-2020. 

Vietnam is currently rankedsecond in Southeast Asia and 13th in the world in agricultural production,according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The meeting, organised by Saigon Times newspaper, was held toencourage young agricultural firms and start-ups to create clean,safe farms and agricultural products by using advancedtechnology.-VNS/VNA