Promoting IPHM application on crops

Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee has just approved the Action Plan to promote the application of IPHM on major crops and key crops in the province for the period 2023 - 2030. Unlike IPM (integrated pest management) which is mainly solutions to manage pests for crops, the IPHM method focuses on improving the health of crops to increase resistance to pests. The province's plan aims that by 2030, farmers will basically understand and apply IPHM methods for major crops and key crops in the area.

From pest control...

Khanh Vinh farmers eradicate pests on grapefruit trees

Farmer Khanh Vinh eradicates pests on grapefruit trees.

Mr. Tran Thien Hung - Head of the Provincial Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection said that according to the province's decision, in addition to the main crop of rice, the main crops in the province include: Mango, durian, grapefruit, garlic, purple sugarcane and sugar cane. Not only outstanding in terms of area and output, these crops also bring the main income to farmers. According to statistics, the whole province has about 20,000 hectares of rice land, more than 8,200 hectares of mango, more than 1,500 hectares of grapefruit, nearly 2,400 hectares of durian, 450 hectares of garlic, nearly 300 hectares of purple sugarcane and more than 10,000 hectares of sugar cane. In recent years, along with research on improving varieties, applying scientific and modern farming methods to gradually improve quality and productivity, farmers also apply IPM solutions in the process of caring for crops.

The program to promote the application of integrated pest management has been implemented nationwide for nearly 30 years. Most recently, the IPM Project for the period 2015 - 2020, nationwide, thousands of training courses and field workshops were organized to train hundreds of thousands of plant protection officers and farmers to apply IPM measures on nearly 3 million hectares of crops. IPM in this period mainly focused on using methods to control pests to protect crops. In Khanh Hoa, the IPM program has been implemented since 1993. To date, dozens of farming households have accessed and implemented integrated pest management measures on crops. In 2022 and the first months of 2023 alone, the Provincial Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection has implemented 8 training courses for farmers on the IPM program and built 8 IPM application models on key crops such as durian, mango, grapefruit, and garlic. Training farmers on IPM knowledge and skills, along with implementing practical models of IPM application, has helped farmers learn while doing. Training courses and model implementation are mainly for good farmers, so that farmers have the conditions to replicate, master the process and guide other farmers to do the same.

...to improve plant health

Dien Khanh farmers take care of rice.

To protect crops in an endogenous way, meeting all three requirements: protecting the health of growers, ensuring clean and safe agricultural products and protecting the environment, the IPHM Program was built and applied. According to Mr. Tran Thien Hung, IPHM is a new step of inheritance and development of IPM and will replace IPM. The difference between the two programs lies in the approach, while IPM mainly focuses on eliminating harmful organisms, IPHM tends to apply solutions to improve the health of crops to better cope with diseases. In case of necessity, measures to eliminate harmful organisms can be used, but mainly use natural enemies or biological solutions.

According to the professional agency, IPHM solutions are general in nature, mainly aiming to help the soil be healthy, the plants be healthy, safe, have good resistance, apply scientific and technological advances, protect the ecological environment... Especially improving farmers' understanding of pests, soil, water, along with appropriate treatment solutions. At the same time, farmers also have the ability to communicate and share experiences with the community, for other farmers to apply.

According to the Action Plan to promote the application of IPHM on major crops and key crops in the province in the period of 2023 - 2030, the goal by 2030 is that over 70% of communes in the province will have a core team of farmers with knowledge, skills and effective application of IPHM, capable of guiding other farmers to apply IPHM; over 80% of rice, vegetable and fruit tree areas in the province will apply IPHM; 70% of the province's key crop areas will restructure agriculture to apply IPHM, thereby reducing 30% of pesticides and 30% of chemical fertilizers.

According to Mr. Tran Thien Hung, to achieve this goal, implementing the direction of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Department is focusing on completing the consultation on a specific implementation plan. In particular, promoting propaganda to raise awareness of IPHM; training and coaching key farmers to apply IPHM techniques and instructing producers to apply them together. Along with that, in order to help officials implementing the plan and farmers master knowledge of IPHM, the plan also focuses on building and replicating IPHM application models on the province's main crops, key crops, as a basis for replicating IPHM application in actual production, linking production with preservation, processing and consumption of products according to the value chain; increasing the application of cost reduction techniques in production to save costs, improve economic efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, towards green agriculture, circular agriculture.

HONG DANG

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