Mr. Nguyen Kien Cuong - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vang Agricultural Investment Joint Stock Company, the unit that is cooperating in onion production with farmers in Nam An Phu commune, said so.
Healthy soil, healthy plants, good quality
Hai Phong currently has a winter crop area of over 29,000 hectares, of which onions and garlic account for about 7,000 hectares, leading the country in terms of scale. However, behind these impressive figures are concerns about land resource degradation and technical barriers when entering the international arena.
Onion growers in Nam An Phu commune have realized the need to change farming methods to a more sustainable one. Photo: Dinh Muoi.
New thinking in the northern onion 'capital'The reality from households like Ms. Le Thi Nguyet, Ms. Bui Thi Vui or old farmers like Mr. Nguyen Van Sinh in Nam An Phu commune shows that although the investment cost for one sao of onions is up to 3 - 5 million VND, the profit is increasingly eroded due to the "weakening" of the land. Ms. Vui shared: "We cultivate all year round, after the rice comes the crops. The land does not rest so it is very hard and stubborn, and needs fertilizers to help loosen the soil and detoxify it."
The obvious consequence is that when entering the international market, Hai Phong garlic and onions often encounter technical barriers. Difficult markets such as Japan, the EU or the US do not only care about the size of the onion, but they also examine nitrate residue, heavy metals and farming history. A shipment can be returned if it is found that pesticide residue exceeds the threshold even by a very small index.
In that context, Hai Phong agriculture sector identified integrated plant health management (IPHM) not simply as a seasonal technical solution but as a survival strategy. Different from the traditional IPM process (which mainly focuses on pest management), IPHM approaches the problem from the root, which is soil health.
Ms. Le Thi Nguyet, Phuong Quat village, Nam An Phu commune, has been growing onions for nearly 30 years. Photo: Dinh Muoi.
Mr. Nguyen Kien Cuong - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vang Agricultural Investment Joint Stock Company, the unit that is cooperating in onion production with farmers in Nam An Phu commune, explained more clearly about this process: "Before planting, we have to do something that farmers rarely do, which is to 'diagnose' the soil. Soil samples are analyzed for pH, humus and microorganisms. From there, engineers will come up with a suitable organic fertilizer formula to detoxify and balance nutrition."
The IPHM process at onion growing models in Nam An Phu is being strictly implemented through 3 pillars: biological improvement, remote pest management and electronic diary. Accordingly, people will replace 30 - 50% of inorganic fertilizers with organic microbial fertilizers. This helps restore humus to the soil, creating an environment for beneficial microorganisms to grow, helping the onion roots to "breathe" and absorb maximum nutrients.
Regarding pest management, instead of waiting for pests to appear before spraying, IPHM focuses on preventive measures such as crop rotation, treatment of disease-free seeds, use of sticky traps and biological pesticides. All impacts on the fields must be recorded. This is a database for traceability - a mandatory requirement of partners.
“When working with foreign partners, the first question they ask is not how much it costs, but where your growing area code is. The code is not an inanimate number, it is a health record of a land area. IPHM is the tool for us to build a clean record, get the growing area code - the 'passport' for Hai Phong garlic to export abroad", Mr. Cuong emphasized.
Linking 4 houses and the government "midwife"
Changing farming practices that have been ingrained in farmers' subconscious for decades is not easy. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan - Vice Chairman of Nam An Phu Commune People's Committee shared: "Farmers are very realistic, they are afraid of risks. If they stop using chemical fertilizers and switch to new organic fertilizers, who will compensate if the crop fails? At this time, the role of the government and businesses is to create a 'safety net' for them."
Mr. Nguyen Van Rieng's household in Phuong Quat village is participating in the onion growing model applying IPHM of Vang Agricultural Investment Joint Stock Company. Photo: Dinh Muoi.
In Nam An Phu commune, the "safety net" is the commitment to productivity insurance. The company not only provides materials on credit and sends engineers to live and eat with the people, but also commits that if the people follow the IPHM process correctly and the productivity is lower than the control, the company will compensate for the loss. If the productivity is achieved, the company will buy at a price 15% higher than the market price. This policy has removed the farmers' concerns.
In a broader view, Hai Phong's focus on IPHM and organic agriculture is a concrete step to realize the policy of shifting from agricultural production thinking to maximize output to agricultural economic thinking to maximize value.
Ms. Luong Thi Kiem - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Hai Phong said that the City is building specific support mechanisms for the period 2025 - 2030. The first is land accumulation, encouraging land consolidation to form large raw material areas (from 10 hectares or more) eligible for growing area codes.
The second is infrastructure support, investment in irrigation systems, intra-field roads and cold storage to reduce post-harvest losses. The third is deep processing, calling on businesses to invest in on-site processing plants. Onions and garlic will not only be sold fresh but will be processed into onion powder, dried onions, black garlic, essential oils... to increase value many times over.
Onion cultivation in Nam An Phu will be upgraded thanks to the attention of the agricultural sector, local authorities and farmers. Photo: Dinh Muoi.
"We do not encourage farmers to expand their acreage at all costs. The strategy is to be 'subtle' rather than 'multi-dimensional'. 1 sao of onions cultivated according to IPHM standards, sold in supermarkets or exported to Japan, Korea... will have a value double or triple compared to traditional cultivation sold on the market. When farmers understand the value of transparency and soil health, agriculture will truly develop sustainably," Ms. Luong Thi Kiem affirmed.
From the pilot IPHM application model in Nam An Phu, a new way of thinking is spreading across the fields in Hai Phong. Farmers are beginning to understand that protecting the land is protecting their rice pot, and the ticket to reaching the ocean is not far away but lies in being kind to every inch of their homeland.
Hai Phong City has identified integrated plant health management (IPHM) as a key strategy. Unlike IPM (which focuses only on pest management), IPHM extends to comprehensive management from soil, water, nutrition to plants. At pilot models, businesses and the Hai Phong Department of Agriculture and Environment require farmers to strictly follow the process from soil treatment, organic nutrition to pesticides.
Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/ap-dung-iphm-kham-benh-cho-dat-trong-hanh-d786502.html
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