The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has asked local authorities and relevant agencies to strengthen the management of fertiliser products to prevent the purchase and use of fake and low quality products.
The Tin Tuc (News) newspaper reports that the ministry has asked local management agencies to conform to the Government's chemical industry development plan to 2010 with a vision to 2020.
Local agencies should strengthen investment in existing fertiliser plants and refrain from permitting NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium) fertiliser plants using outdated technologies, the report cites the ministry as saying.
Inspection agencies should focus on monitoring small-scale fertiliser producers whose facilities are not conducive to producing quality fertilisers as per original registration, it said.
Phung Ha, head of the ministry's Department of Chemicals, said the involvement of too many agencies has created management overlaps in the industry and resulted in several adverse impacts on the environment, the farmers and local producers.
Ha said ministries and sectors should perfect legal issues relating to the management of fertiliser production and trade.
Under current regulations, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is responsible for managing organic fertilisers, including setting up plans for production and use, inspecting violations in fertiliser production and use, and working with other ministries and sectors to research and apply advanced technologies for organic fertiliser production.
Meanwhile, the MoIT is in charge of managing inorganic fertiliser production. The ministry has said it has an interdisciplinary team inspect inorganic fertiliser producers every year. Local market management agencies also work with competent agencies to regularly inspect fertiliser products.
Inspectors have found that most violations are related to trading registration, labels, quality, expiry dates and fake products.
The inspection results have also found that about 50 percent of inspected samples of NPK fertiliser failed to meet quality standards set by MARD.
Vietnam needs about 8.8-9 million tonnes of all kinds of fertilisers for farming this year, according to MoIT estimates.
Of this, local producers can only supply about 5.6 million tonnes. The rest has to be imported.
China is currently the largest fertiliser supplier, accounting for more than 40 percent of Vietnam's total fertiliser import value./.
The Tin Tuc (News) newspaper reports that the ministry has asked local management agencies to conform to the Government's chemical industry development plan to 2010 with a vision to 2020.
Local agencies should strengthen investment in existing fertiliser plants and refrain from permitting NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium) fertiliser plants using outdated technologies, the report cites the ministry as saying.
Inspection agencies should focus on monitoring small-scale fertiliser producers whose facilities are not conducive to producing quality fertilisers as per original registration, it said.
Phung Ha, head of the ministry's Department of Chemicals, said the involvement of too many agencies has created management overlaps in the industry and resulted in several adverse impacts on the environment, the farmers and local producers.
Ha said ministries and sectors should perfect legal issues relating to the management of fertiliser production and trade.
Under current regulations, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is responsible for managing organic fertilisers, including setting up plans for production and use, inspecting violations in fertiliser production and use, and working with other ministries and sectors to research and apply advanced technologies for organic fertiliser production.
Meanwhile, the MoIT is in charge of managing inorganic fertiliser production. The ministry has said it has an interdisciplinary team inspect inorganic fertiliser producers every year. Local market management agencies also work with competent agencies to regularly inspect fertiliser products.
Inspectors have found that most violations are related to trading registration, labels, quality, expiry dates and fake products.
The inspection results have also found that about 50 percent of inspected samples of NPK fertiliser failed to meet quality standards set by MARD.
Vietnam needs about 8.8-9 million tonnes of all kinds of fertilisers for farming this year, according to MoIT estimates.
Of this, local producers can only supply about 5.6 million tonnes. The rest has to be imported.
China is currently the largest fertiliser supplier, accounting for more than 40 percent of Vietnam's total fertiliser import value./.
