ASM
Viet Nam - Setting Higher Agricultural Targets
Agricultural production is highly linked to land resources and their location. Recently Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung suggested that Viet Nam needs to set higher targets for agricultural production. He pointed to the need for better models that link economy to production for local conditions.
Data pertaining to agricultural production is growing in importance. Several agencies involved in Asia. The DevInfo inter-agency taskforce for Asia and the Pacific comprising representatives from ESCAP, ILO, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP, and WHO as well as the Cambodian National Institute of Statistics (NIS) and the UN Country Team in Cambodia will hold a conference in early February in Cambodia to discuss these issues.
Topics will include country-led monitoring and evaluation systems, use of national statistical systems in support of policy and decision making. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) head William Dar suggested in the publication SciDev Net recently that sustainable land and water management are key factors in fighting climate change while adapting agricultural production.
With 1.5 billion people of the developing world engaged in food production, small losses in production could have great impacts. Bangladesh is an example of climate impacts on food production where it has become a net rice importer due to floods and cyclones.
According to FAO [2009], "the combined effect of population growth, strong income growth, and urbanization is expected to result in almost the doubling of demand for food, feed and fibre" worldwide. It is apparent that numerous factors are converging to increase pressure on food production. Surveying, mapping and GNSS technologies can be considered as key technologies for acquiring the data necessary to improved food production and water supply.
Indeed, in October 2009 the 7th FIG Regional Conference was held in Viet Nam under the theme "Spatial Data Serving People: Land Governance and the Environment - Building the Capacity". Dr. Dang Hung Vo, president of the Viet Nam Cartography, Geodesy and Remote Sensing association indicated the vital role of that country's spatial data infrastructure (SDI) in meeting those needs.
While Viet Nam has had bumper crops in 2009 for coffee and rice exports, the quality of the products continues to suffer. Attention is now turning toward increased production with higher quality. Invariably, quality is likely to be linked to location and factors associated with environment, transport and storage. Collectively these again are connected to spatial technologies, thus once again highlighting the role and opportunities geotechnologies can play.
