A "safe vegetables" farm in Hoa Vang District, Da Nang. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Organic agriculture is an important direction for thedevelopment of Vietnam’s agriculture, given the growing demand for quality andfood safety, according to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development NguyenXuan Cuong.
Speakingat a conference on organic farming held in Hanoi on April 4, the minister saiduntil recently, food sufficiency was the priority of Vietnam, hence the use of inorganicfertilizers and pesticide to ensure food supply.
Butthe situation has now changed as the country already meets its demand for foodand quality and safety has gained priority over quantity, he stressed.
DeputyMinister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said organicagriculture has made progress in recent years.
Statisticsfrom the institute for organic farming showed that Vietnam had over 76,000hectares of organic farms in 2015, 3.6 times higher than the figure for 2010.Most of these farms concentrated in Hanoi, Hoa Binh, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, LamDong, Ben Tre and Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Vietnamese organic agricultural productshave been exported to Japan, Germany, the US, the UK, the Republic of Korea,Russia and Singapore.
Currently,there are about 59 organic farming establishments in 30 out of 63 provinces andcities nationwide and two large-scale organic dairy cow farms run by Vinamilkand TH True Milk.
Thecountry has approximately 115 makers of organic fertilizers, with registeredcapacity amounting to 2 million tonnes per year. In reality, these facilities turnout an estimated one million tonnes a year, accounting for only 10 percent ofthe total amount of fertilizers used across the nation.
Infact, a large number of farmers are reluctant to shift to organic practice, dueto strict regulations, high costs and unsecure markets.
Inaddition, Vietnam is yet to have national standards and verificationorganisations for organic production, thus available products on the markethave not won consumers’ trust.
Totackle these challenges, Deputy Minister Nam stressed the necessity of protectingunpolluted land and water sources, and completing standards and inspectionsystems for organic production.
Heproposed that the Government assign the MARD to build an organic agriculture developmentproject between 2018 and 2025, and a legal framework to certify organic produceand ensure production transparency.
Policieson land and credit incentives are also needed to attract investment in thesector, Nam added.-VNA
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