Việt Nam, Malaysia see potential for smart agriculture cooperation

Malaysia sees room to work more closely with Việt Nam on smart agriculture as it accelerates the shift from labour-intensive farming to high-tech production under National Agrofood Policy 2.0 (NAP 2.0). Prof. Tan Jian Ping of Xiamen University Malaysia’s STARGAZE center said NAP 2.0 will use Industry 4.0 tools such as the Internet of Things (IoT), unmanned aerial vehicles, artificial intelligence, automation and biotechnology. He said Malaysia wants higher productivity and stronger food security while reducing reliance on foreign labour. Tan noted Việt Nam’s advantages in rice production scale and expertise, proposing learning rather than duplicating. He suggested a Malaysia-Việt Nam High-Tech Agriculture Innovation Centre, with joint funding to support pilot farms, data sharing and commercialisation, potentially expanding into an ASEAN platform.