Hanoi market gardeners established another 500 hectares of safe vegetables in the first quarter of this year.
This brings the total area for this type of cultivation in theprovince to 5,000 hectares, reports the city's Department forAgriculture and Rural Development.
The idea of safe vegetables isfar from new. They have been grown in Vietnam and the rest of the worldfor thousands of years using natural compost and natural pesticides.
However,in recent years, many Vietnamese farmers like their colleagues aroundthe world, have embraced chemical-intensive production, creating agrowing demand for higher quality vegetables.
By adoptingintegrated pest-management practices, using compost and rotating,farmers have been able to reduce their reliance on chemicals.
In 2009, Hanoi launched a project to promote the production and consumption of safe vegetables.
Headof the agricultural department's Plant Protection Division, Nguyen DuyHong, said that the division was operating centres for testing thequality of vegetables and granting certificates to those that passed thetest.
The division is guiding 18 safe-vegetable production areasacross Hanoi. They are all using good agricultural productionstandards.
Hong said that farmers in these areas were taught how to grow safe vegetables and ways to improve productivity.
Thirty-onesafe vegetable producers had been granted codes that enable authoritiesand consumers to trace the origin of the fruit and vegetables - andpromote a trademark, he said.
Four vegetable processing unitshave been established. They can handle up to five tonnes per day inproduction areas such as Van Duc commune in Gia Lam district, Yen My andDuyen Ha communes in Thanh Tri district, Thanh Da commune in Phuc Thodistrict.
More than 80 vegetable shops and 180 stands insupermarkets across the city have also met criteria for selling safevegetables. Each sells an average of 50 to 120kg of vegetables daily.
Hanoi'stotal market-garden area is about 12,000 hectares. It provides about295,000 tonnes of vegetable each year, meeting 60 percent of vegetabledemand in the city.-VNA
This brings the total area for this type of cultivation in theprovince to 5,000 hectares, reports the city's Department forAgriculture and Rural Development.
The idea of safe vegetables isfar from new. They have been grown in Vietnam and the rest of the worldfor thousands of years using natural compost and natural pesticides.
However,in recent years, many Vietnamese farmers like their colleagues aroundthe world, have embraced chemical-intensive production, creating agrowing demand for higher quality vegetables.
By adoptingintegrated pest-management practices, using compost and rotating,farmers have been able to reduce their reliance on chemicals.
In 2009, Hanoi launched a project to promote the production and consumption of safe vegetables.
Headof the agricultural department's Plant Protection Division, Nguyen DuyHong, said that the division was operating centres for testing thequality of vegetables and granting certificates to those that passed thetest.
The division is guiding 18 safe-vegetable production areasacross Hanoi. They are all using good agricultural productionstandards.
Hong said that farmers in these areas were taught how to grow safe vegetables and ways to improve productivity.
Thirty-onesafe vegetable producers had been granted codes that enable authoritiesand consumers to trace the origin of the fruit and vegetables - andpromote a trademark, he said.
Four vegetable processing unitshave been established. They can handle up to five tonnes per day inproduction areas such as Van Duc commune in Gia Lam district, Yen My andDuyen Ha communes in Thanh Tri district, Thanh Da commune in Phuc Thodistrict.
More than 80 vegetable shops and 180 stands insupermarkets across the city have also met criteria for selling safevegetables. Each sells an average of 50 to 120kg of vegetables daily.
Hanoi'stotal market-garden area is about 12,000 hectares. It provides about295,000 tonnes of vegetable each year, meeting 60 percent of vegetabledemand in the city.-VNA
