Development of Criteria for High-Technology Rice and Corn Suitability Assessment – A Case Study in the An Giang province, Viet Nam

This study identified the zones likely to apply high-tech rice and corn technology based on criteria from differ - ent expert groups. Based on the resulting limiting factor for ability suitable, structural and non-structural solutions have been proposed to improve the suitability of rice and corn with high-tech applications. It was the basic foundation to support strategic planners in agricultural development sustainability in the future. High technology application in agricultural production is an inevitable trend in today’s society. In Vietnam, high-tech agricultural production has developed for a long time in high-tech industrial park production. However, in agricultural production, applying high technology with mass production has yet to have any specific regulations on criteria for implementation in production. On that basis, the research aimed at determining the requirements for developing high-tech agriculture with mass production. Therefore, the predefined criteria for primary and secondary data were developed, which were used for the data collected from farmers, managers, and scientists. Thereby, a production hierarchy of adaptations for rice and corn was built based on consultation results with the farmers and scientists and published studies. The results also made three land adaptation zones apply high technology in mass production for these two crops. The areas suitable for producing rice and corn with high technology applications were marginally suitable, and not suitable prevailed. No region in the An Giang province has a strong potential for cultivating high-tech rice and corn. This result also established adaptive upgrading solutions for applying high technology in the future, which helped improve agricultural production efficiency.


INTRODUCTION
Agriculture high-tech application uses advanced technologies and techniques in agricultural production to create products with high productivity, quality, competitiveness, and environmental friendliness (Government, 2015; Xo & Nhuong, 2006). The application of high technology in agricultural production is an urgent requirement between production practice and the essential solutions to industrialization and agricultural modernization in rural areas (Thomas, 2012;Hien, 2014). However, the implementation still has limitations, such as the small, fragmented agricultural production scale, the lack of planning, and the large-scale establishment of concentrated production areas (Chung, 2018;Dung & Ninh, 2015). Moreover, the application of scientific-technological advances to production is limited, not bold in selecting plant varieties and applying biotechnology, which results in low productivity, product quality, and competitiveness, and high investment capital for agricultural production using high technology (Khuong et al., 2014; Hien, P.V., 2014). Significantly, the criteria for constructing high-tech agricultural applications still need to be completed. Therefore, the research Development of Criteria for High-Technology Rice and Corn Suitability Assessment -A Case Study in the An Giang province, Viet Nam was necessary to be raised in the current period. The study aimed to identify and evaluate the existing agricultural land use, apply high technology for rice and cash crop (corn) production, and propose solutions to improve the efficiency of the high-tech application.

Systematizing theoretical bases of hi-tech application agriculture
Based on the legal documents and previous studies in Vietnam and around the world. The research established the requirements for hi-tech application agricultural production, as shown in Table 2.

Secondary data collection
The study collected data on the current land use, reported agricultural production, socio-economic development, statistical yearbook, and reports on the implementation of resolution 09-NQ/ TU of the provincial party committee. The study collected data on the province's agricultural land use and administration maps.

Expert consultation to identify high-tech application agricultural production criteria
The study consulted experts on rice (24 farmers, 24 managers, and 15 scientists) and corn (19 farmers, 16 managers, and 16 scientists) to build the requirements for developing a high-tech application for mass production.

The classification of land suitability for high-tech application
The study consulted the farmers, managers, and scientists and synthesized previous studies to build the hierarchy requirement for mass production. The sample size was calculated based on Slovin (1960) with an allowable margin of error of 10%.

Creating land characteristics
The study inherits the soil characteristics data from the project, evaluating the potential and distributing soil fertility based on soil maps to assess the constraints to crop cultivation in the An Giang province (Du et al., 2019).

Data processing
The data were processed to analyze non-parametric data using Microsoft excel software. Then, the chart was drawn. Finally, the current state of agricultural land use, hi-tech applications in agriculture, and applications of rice and corn in current conditions were analyzed and evaluated.
Besides, the study identified the current agricultural land use status on paper maps through discussions with agricultural managers to determine the location and distribution of land use types.

Criteria for hi-tech agricultural development
The data from expert consultation was synthesized to determine the priority of requirements using the Microsoft Excel software and the multiobjective assessment method (Sharifi., 1990). From ranking the criteria of interest of the target groups for each condition for high-tech crop production, the data were standardized to the same value from 0 to 1 (Eq. 1) (Sharifi., 1990).
where: Xi -the standardized point of the level of interest required i, ∑Y(j)i -the total score of the assessors for requirement i in requirement group j for high-tech application development, ∑Zmax(j) -the highest total score of requirement group j for high-tech application development assessed by the expert.

Delineation of the hi-tech agricultural production area
This method was based on the adaptive assessment method (FAO, 1976 and2007) with 05 basic steps from Figure 1.

Current agricultural land uses
The rice and corn production areas dominate in the An Giang province (Table 1 and Figure 2). Table 1 shows the advantages of agricultural development, which are favorable conditions for applying new science and technology to agricultural cultivation more conveniently and synchronously.

Rice
In current cultivation had been applied new techniques (such as seed; 1 must consider 5 reductions, 3 reductions-3 gains, and integrated pest management) (Monica et al., 2020). At the same time, the province was also developing rice production systems according to VietGAP,

Cash crops
The province applied high technology and implemented the replication in the area, such as seeding, applying agricultural mulch, and using cultivators' soil. However, several techniques still need to be replicated, such as building net and membrane houses, spraying water and drip irrigation, and building cooperative groups.

Limitations in high-tech application
The assessment results also showed that the current application of high technology in agricultural production still faced many limitations, such as a lack of investment capital, human resources, incomplete infrastructure, consumer markets, and farming techniques that still needed to be replicated. For example, there were still obstacles in corn production that have not promoted mechanization.

Determining the requirements for high-tech applications
Based on preliminary criteria defined by the systematization of high-tech agricultural production applications. The study engaged farmers,    Table 2 depict the findings of expert evaluations for hightech applications of rice and corn. The results showed that the requirements of land use rights,   Figure 4. Zoning of land suitability for high-tech application rice production managerial capacity, labor resources, capital investment, and support policies were little interest to expert groups.

Developing the requirements and diagnostic criteria for high-tech applications for rice and corn production
Based on the assessment of the amount of interest in specific requirements for rice and corn production by expert groups, it was combined the results of consultations gricultural managers and farmer interviews. Since then, nine quality requirements for the high-tech application of rice and corn production in the An Giang province have been established (Table 3).

Zoning suitable land for rice and corn high technology application
The study built 192 land characteristic units based on land characteristics for high-tech applications. It compared the suitability hierarchy for high-tech applications and land unit characteristics. Three suitability zones of high-tech applications for rice production in An Giang province are shown in Table 4 and Figure 4, whereas for corn - Table 5 and Figure 5.

Solutions for enhancement of high-tech application
1) The local government should have the plan to implement and build agricultural infrastructure synchronously. It was necessary to regularly train technicians for the people in agricultural production in the direction of safety, organic, eco-technology, and product quality assurance to enhance the value of Vietnamese agricultural products. Science and technology applications should be implemented to deliver to farmers. People should be instructed on how to use chemical fertilizers and pesticides correctly and at the appropriate time.
2) The locality needs to build concentrated production areas, use seeds and apply synchronous production techniques to create a homogeneous product quality and high yields that can access the fastidious market during the integration period.
3) The government should develop policies to support businesses in investing in the agricultural sector because enterprises can identify and find output markets for products and build brands to increase the production value of farmers. 4) Each locality needs to have appropriate policies about land to develop high-tech applications. 5) Training human resources in the right industry and choosing suitable subjects is necessary. The next step is facilitating investment and capital support for businesses, individuals, and qualified people.

DISCUSSION
Developing high-tech agriculture was one of the global trends to meet the demand for eatables, foods, and quality agricultural products (Giller et al., 2021;FAO, 2017). Thereby, the conditions of agricultural production in the world, in general, were still fragmented and small-scale (Meyer, 2010;Woodhill et al., 2020). Assessing the applicability of advanced technology requires that the physical, economic, social, and environmental conditions can be determined by opinions from different experts, including managers, scientists, and farmers (Nguyen et al., 2017). The requirements for high-tech agricultural production needed to pay much attention to the provisions of soil and water because these were essential inputs for agricultural cultivation. Moreover, the conditions on the capital capacity of farmers and the product consumption market were indispensable because when implementing high-tech agriculture, farmers must meet sufficient investment resources.
Furthermore, when creating products, it needs to have a stable place of consumption because high-tech agricultural production creates large outputs that are homogenous, and the role of linkage in production is enhanced (Johann & Kurt, 2002). In addition, to apply new scientific and technical measures to high-tech agricultural production, the farmers' knowledge was indispensable (Šūmane et al., 2017;Khondokar, 2015;Ajayi, 2008). Besides, the requirements on organizations supporting agricultural production were necessary to improve the role, efficiency, and linkage in the process of consuming farming products and supplying agricultural materials for high-tech agricultural production (Douxchamps et al., 2015;Ross et al., 2013;Johann & Kurt, 2002).
Moreover, the infrastructure conditions must be met to serve the transport of agricultural goods and meet the demand for electricity for irrigation and drainage by electric pumps (Bacior and Prus, 2018; Marie-Agnès, 2013; Murakami et al., 2007). Therefore, identifying the areas with the potential for development to apply high-tech rice and maize is necessary. In addition, there should be solutions to upgrade the areas that are not eligible to develop sustainable agriculture and adapt to climate change.

CONCLUSIONS
The results showed the current status of agricultural land use with the central area of rice land, followed by the cash-crops area (mainly corn). The results also identified the techniques applied in rice and corn products, such as seed technology, mechanization, farming techniques, and production association. The study initially built a hierarchy with 9 quality requirements, 21 criteria for rice, and 20 criteria for high-tech corn application. The results identified three zones of high-tech application for rice and corn production. The not-suitable area (N) occupied the most, and the highest suitable level was moderate (S2). The research had built the solutions to improve the efficiency of rice and corn production high-tech applications such as supporting policies, enhancing human resources, developing infrastructure, and linking production.