Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s agriculture is stepping up its transition towards a greener, safer and more sustainable development model, aligned with efforts to ensure food safety and public health, limit adverse impacts on the environment and agro-ecosystems, and enhance the value and competitiveness of agricultural products at home and abroad.
Against this backdrop, biological plant protection products have emerged as an important solution to gradually reduce dependence on chemical pesticides, support integrated pest management (IPM), and advance ecological and organic farming. Their development and application are increasingly seen not only as an inevitable trend, but also as a practical requirement for more effective state management in the field of plant protection.
So said Nguyen Quang Hieu, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, at an international conference on the management and registration of biological plant protection products in Hanoi on January 8.
He said the number of biopesticides being researched, registered and approved for use in Vietnam continues to grow.
The ministry recently issued Circular No. 75/2025/TT-BNNMT on the lists of plant protection products permitted and banned for use in Vietnam, under which biological active ingredients account for 37.29% of the permitted list.
Tan Siang Hee, Executive Director of CropLife Asia, stressed that plant protection solutions remain vital to safeguarding crop yields and farmers’ livelihoods, especially amid climate change and rising pest pressures. While chemical pesticides still play an important role, biological products are becoming an increasingly indispensable part of farmers’ toolkits, offering more flexible, eco-friendly and sustainable options.
He added that the objective is not to replace existing solutions entirely, but to establish a modern, science-based management system in which chemical and biological products complement one another. In this regard, harmonising regulatory principles across ASEAN is viewed as crucial to ensuring safety and transparency, reducing technical barriers and promoting innovation, thereby expanding farmers’ access to safe and effective pest management tools.
During the conference, participants exchanged in-depth views on the registration and management of biological plant protection products across ASEAN, as well as experiences from economies with advanced regulatory frameworks such as the EU, the US, Brazil, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Discussions centred on product classification, registration data requirements, field trials, quality management, residue control and biological risk assessment.
Notably, a dedicated session on Vietnam enabled policymakers and regulators to receive targeted policy recommendations and practical lessons, providing important reference inputs for reviewing and refining the legal framework in the time ahead. This was seen as a concrete step towards implementing the project on developing the production and use of biological plant protection products by 2030, with a vision to 2050, and advancing the Government’s priority of safe, modern and sustainable agricultural development.
Earlier, on January 6–7, the ASEAN Biological Efficacy Task Force (ABETF) and CropLife Asia, in coordination with the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, held a series of events to launch the ASEAN biopesticides regulatory framework project./.
