Page 63 - Agricultural innovation

management, reducing 1 to 2 times to water floods the fields thanks to the alternating wet and dry
irrigation technique, thereby reducing the cost of producing one kilogram of rice, and farmers’ profits
increase by about 15% compared to farmers who produce using conventional methods. Furthermore,
this farming method helps farmers reduce about 1/3 of the greenhouse gas emissions generated during
a rice crop, thanks to reducing the number of times the fields are flooded and having proper straw
treatment methods, returning them organically back into the soil with Trichoderma products that
decompose straw. This also reduces the amount of straw burned each season in the Mekong Delta.
Based on the success from 2016, by 2020, Loc Troi Group has organized farmers to produce rice
that meets 100% SRP standards. The publication at this time is no longer self-assessment and self-
announcement, but is carried out by a third party, authorized by the SRP organization. For the first
time in Vietnam, Loc Troi Group achieved SRP certification of 100 points, meeting the expectations
of the Group’s board of directors, the trust in farming techniques and the ability of farmers to accept
advanced farming methods, Vietnam in general and Mekong Delta farmers in particular. Achieving
100% of the SRP standard requires absolute compliance with the requirements of the standard, which
has been successfully maintained and re-certified in 2021 and 2022. This once again demonstrates the
commitment Loc Troi Group’s companionship with farmers on the path of sustainable development.

d) Building raw material areas, associated with the role of Cooperatives and Cooperative Unions
Loc Troi Group has built its operations on the foundation of cooperation with cooperatives/
cooperative unions. Loc Troi Group aims for a cooperation scale of 30 to 100 thousand hectares for
each cooperative/cooparative union. From there, we can take advantage of the economy of scale to
help reduce rice growing costs and thereby increase farmers’ income. Up to now, Loc Troi Group has
participated and organized the activities of 5 cooperatives in the provinces of An Giang, Kien Giang,
Long An and Bac Lieu, with an average scale of 12 cooperatives/cooperative unions. This creates
many advantages for Loc Troi Group in organizing concentrated growing areas, applying for planting
area codes, and facilitating warehousing arrangements, transportation vehicles, and synchronous
mechanization. In addition, policy support for cooperatives/unions is also a significant advantage for
member units when participating in this agricultural system.

e) Carry out cooperation in the field of applied research from the field to the factory to help reduce
post-harvest losses, reduce labor use in the field, and ensure post-harvest rice grain quality�
In addition to strengthening self-research, research cooperation and technology transfer in the field
of seeds and crop solutions, activities related to high-tech application in farming, harvesting and post-
harvest are always being carried out. Focus on and constantly improve, since 2019, Loc Troi Group has
boldly invested in drone technology and unmanned spraying aircraft, with thorough training for the
group’s technical staff in combining knowledge of crop experience with drone control to achieve the
highest efficiency in each spraying session. Starting from the first 15 drones, up to now, the Group has
over 150 drones with nearly 300 skilled personnel operating the drones, trusted and used by farmers.
In addition, this drone operation team is also organizing experiments on the application capabilities
of drones beyond spraying, such as sowing and fertilizing. If these trials are successful, farming in
the farmers’ fields will be almost completely mechanized, reducing the need for unskilled labor and
minimizing the possibility and time of exposure to plant protection products in agriculture.
In 2020, Loc Troi Agricultural Research Institute cooperated with the International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI), piloted the use of the EasyHarvest program, locating and status of boats carrying
rice from related raw material areas linked to the milling factory. This application allows to manage,
arrange and deploy transportation vehicles on time, ensuring rice is transported to the factory within 12

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