So that agricultural activities do not impact the ecosystem and biodiversity

The Mekong Delta contributes more than 50% of agricultural output, over 90% of food exports and about 70% of the country's fruits. However, the use of fertilizers and pesticides is considered ineffective, making the quality and value of agricultural products here not really sustainable.

Minister Le Minh Hoan chaired the online conference: "The current situation and solutions for managing the use of fertilizers, pesticides, growing areas, and agricultural product packaging facilities in the Mekong Delta."

The Mekong Delta consumes 40% more fertilizer than the whole country

The Mekong Delta region is facing many huge impacts and challenges due to climate change as well as the risk of food insecurity, soil and water pollution..., reducing the competitiveness of agricultural products in the domestic market. and international.

In the context of increasingly deep international integration, importing countries tend to improve technical regulations on plant quarantine and food safety, creating barriers for imported agricultural products. Therefore, the requirement for Vietnam's agricultural products with export potential is to meet the requirements of import markets, especially large markets such as the United States, Japan, and Korea. China, Australia, New Zealand, EU... The important solution that needs immediate priority is managing products along the chain to ensure traceability and quality management.

At the online conference: "Current situation and solutions for managing the use of fertilizers, pesticides, growing areas, and packaging facilities for agricultural products in the Mekong Delta" organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development today (August 27), Mr. Hoang Trung, Director of the Plant Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), said that up to now, there are 8 fertilizer products circulating and used on the market. In the Mekong Delta provinces, there are 8.500 products, accounting for 5.265%, of which inorganic fertilizers have more than 21,5 products, the rest are organic fertilizers. Regarding fertilizer use, the amount of fertilizer used from 4.000 to 2017 is 2020 million tons/year. In 10,3, this number decreased to 2020 million tons, of which more than 10,23 million tons were used inorganic fertilizer.

According to Mr. Trung, the Mekong Delta region uses the most fertilizer, more than 1 ton/hectare, 42% more than the national average.

Regarding the use of inorganic fertilizers, the whole country uses an average of 560 kg/ha, while the Mekong Delta uses up to 754 kg/hectare for cultivation, 35% higher than the national average. Among them, Ben Tre has the highest usage among 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta.

According to Mr. Le Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production, vegetable crops are a huge advantage in the Mekong Delta provinces, however there is very little research, investigation, and statistics on the use of fertilizers and pesticides. object. Mr. Tung suggested: "It is necessary to allow the Department of Plant Protection, the Department of Crop Production or the Department of Quality Management of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to have a more detailed and specific assessment of the use of agricultural materials for products. vegetable. We not only need to evaluate pesticide residues that affect human health, but also need to evaluate savings in use, creating transparency and sustainability in production."

Pesticides used effectively will reduce input costs, ensure the quality of agricultural products and keep production land safe.

Transparency of information on fertilizer and pesticide use. At the conference, some opinions said that it is necessary to focus on improving the effectiveness of training for each target group such as managers, businesses and farmers on knowledge. Knowledge related to reasonable and effective use of fertilizers and pesticides, establishment and management of planting area codes and packaging facilities associated with the development of raw material areas and value chain links.

Along with that, it is necessary to encourage the application of technical advances in production such as "3 reductions, 3 increases", using new generation, smart, environmentally safe input products to create new products. Clean, quality products, meeting import market requirements. The application of these applications also needs to be coupled with phytosanitary treatment measures suitable to the conditions and available infrastructure in Vietnam, as a basis for negotiating market opening. From there, we can take advantage of the resources and experience of developed countries and international organizations. At the same time, strengthen inspection, examination and supervision of compliance with legal regulations in the field of fertilizer management and use from central to local levels.

At the conference, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said that information transparency is the principle of the global food system that Vietnam has participated in. "Besides the positive side, the Mekong Delta still has many problems that we need high determination in awareness and action from each person to transform the agriculture here towards transparency, responsibility, and sustainability," The Minister said.

According to Minister Le Minh Hoan, all fertilizer and pesticide use activities must be publicized so as not to affect consumer health. “We need to be responsible to both consumers and farmers, responsible to the social community. How to use less fertilizer in agricultural activities, without affecting the ecosystem and biodiversity, so that we can pass it on to the future. That is the United Nations' definition of sustainability, the needs of this generation do not affect the needs of the next generation," the Minister emphasized.

Minister Le Minh Hoan said: We must establish an ecosystem or alliance of businesses that are responsible for agriculture, responsible for farmers and responsible for the national brand of agricultural products.

“These alliances sit down with state management agencies to plan long-term development strategies, so that good models that have been implemented in practice will spread in the minds of farmers. that we can no longer follow the old path but need to chart a new path to follow. This path may be difficult at first, but in fact, the models that have been implemented have proven effective. Thus, along with the resonance between state management agencies and the business community, cooperatives, and responsible farmers' associations, an ecosystem for sustainable agricultural development will be formed," Minister Le said. Minh Hoan emphasized.

According to the Center for People and Nature