Huge waste from emotional farming habits

Many farmers still abuse fertilizers and pesticides, causing waste. *Photo: HP*

Recently, green vegetables are scarce and prices have increased sharply. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan, Thien Loc commune ( Hanoi ) is always busy in her nearly one-acre mustard field, fertilizing and spraying pesticides.

“To help vegetables grow faster, I compost bird droppings under the roots and add nitrogen fertilizer. As for pests, I spray pesticides every two weeks,” said Ms. Loan.

Not only Mrs. Loan, many farmers also have similar farming methods. "Nowadays, due to poor health, we cannot compost and transport it to the fields, so many people buy chemical fertilizers to fertilize faster," said Mr. Nguyen Huu Thinh, Thien Loc commune.

In Phuc Thinh commune, when the bean trees bloom, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Huong immediately sprays a pesticide with a package printed in foreign languages that she and many people in the village buy at Van Tri market under the name "bean fruit". When the fruit just appears, she sprays pesticide to "avoid worms". "The matter of fertilizing and spraying pesticides depends on our lifetime experience of growing crops, no one gives us any guidance", Mrs. Huong said.

According to statistics from the Hanoi Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, many farmers apply fertilizer 2-3 times more than needed, even 5-7 times more. However, the plant absorption efficiency is very low, only 40-45% nitrogen, 25-30% phosphorus and 55-60% potassium, the rest seeps into the ground, flows into rivers and lakes with rainwater, causing long-term pollution.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Quang Thach, soil expert, Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that long-term chemical fertilization makes the soil hard, reduces fertility and causes nutritional imbalance. Although plants look green on the outside, they are actually weak, easily fall over and have poor resistance to pests and diseases. In terms of economics , overuse of fertilizers is causing the agricultural sector to "lose money unjustly".

Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection ( Ministry of Agriculture and Environment ) Nguyen Quy Duong said that every year Vietnam uses more than 10 million tons of fertilizer but loses 5-5.5 million tons, equivalent to 44,000 billion VND. This is a huge amount of money "dumped on the ground" that crops cannot absorb, pushing up production costs for farmers and reducing the competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products.

Assessing the harmful effects of using fertilizers and pesticides without instructions, Dr. Nguyen Huu Anh, former lecturer at the Vietnam Academy of Agriculture, emphasized: “When nitrate in vegetables exceeds the threshold, it will be converted into nitrite in the body, easily combining to create nitrosamine - a substance that can cause cancer. The danger is that nitrate has penetrated into plant tissue and cannot be washed or removed.”

Although the demand for clean vegetables is increasing, the area of safe production according to VietGAP nationwide is currently only 0.5-0.6% of the total area. This modest figure shows that safe production has not yet become a habit. Many farming households have not been trained, have not accessed safe farming techniques, and even still consider the habit of passing it down from father to son as "surefire". This makes Vietnamese agricultural products not only difficult to export but also threatens the health of domestic consumers.

To have safe agricultural products, we must change the production method from the root. Therefore, the authorities need to train farmers on fertilizing and spraying according to the needs of the crops; strictly control the market of fertilizers and pesticides; and encourage the use of organic fertilizers and biological products.

Reducing fertilizer and pesticides not only protects the environment and consumers, but also protects the income and health of farmers - those who directly produce agricultural products for society.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/lang-phi-lon-tu-thoi-quen-canh-tac-cam-tinh-725780.html