A member of the Binh Thuan-based Hoa Thanh Agricultural Service Cooperative guides other farmers in effective pesticide use (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s plant protectionproduct market is valued at 1 billion USD a year, but the country is stillheavily dependent on imports.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade estimatedthat in the first five months of the year, Vietnam imported 400 million USD worthof pesticides and materials, a 41 percent year-on-year increase. In May alone,the import value was 98 million USD.
The ministry said 53 percent of the totalimports were from China, and the rest from Thailand, the Republic of Korea,India and Germany.
Between 2012 and 2013, imports of pesticidessurged from 55,000 tonnes to 112,000 tonnes. In 2016, the amount was 100,000tonnes and this figure shows no sign of abating.
Hoang Trung, director of the ministry’s PlantProtection Department, said in the past five years, Vietnam annually spentaround 500 million USD to import pesticides and materials from China. Of thetotal imports, 48 percent were herbicides (19,000 tonnes), insecticidesaccounted for 32 percent (16,400 tonnes) and growth regulators about 900tonnes.
Trung said 99 percent of the pesticides in Vietnamwere imported, excluding some domestically produced biological drugs and herbs.
Department data shows about 2,000 plantprotection products are used in the country, traded by more than 200businesses. Nearly 100 processing plants meet half of the total demand forproducts with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes to 40,000 tonnes a year. Vietnam alsohas about 30,000 agents providing plant protection products.
Up to 40 percent of some 100,000 tonnes of plantprotection products imported into Vietnam are bottled for export to 40 markets,which bring in a sizeable turnover. The remaining 60 percent are used in Vietnam.
Le Thi Khanh Hoa, PR Manager of Syngenta VietnamCompany specialising in researching and developing products, told onlinenewspapers that it took time to produce a new plant protection product.
It often take 10 years to 12 years to research,develop and register, together with 25 years of studies in laboratories andfields, as well as assessment of effects on the environment, people and harmfulorganisms, to launch a new plant protection product. The spending reachesaround 260 million USD, Hoa said.
In addition, it has been a challenge for boththe Government and plant protection producers to promote the use of theproducts in more than 10 million small-scale farming households around thecountry.
Currently, counterfeit and poor quality plantprotection products are being sold, affecting the health of firms and farmers,as well as the quality of agricultural products. The Government should pay moreattention to this issue, and supervise and enforce strict measures to fineviolators, she suggested.
The high investment and weak management haveresulted in counterfeit goods flooding the market. On the other hand, the lackof policies and mechanisms to promote investment in this field has been abarrier for local producers who prefer the higher profits of imports ratherthan producing products themselves.
However, experts say that as the Governmentfocuses on increasingly harmful organisms and urges local producers to improveproductivity, the investment in developing plant protection products willprovide opportunities for the local sector to become more active in pestmanagement. -VNA
VNA
