Lost control of plant protection products

In recent years, the number of pesticides - plant protection products, and raw materials imported into Vietnam has been increasing, and through actual surveys, the excessive use has not any sign of stopping.

Can not say cheap should have to spray. It is the responsibility of the seller to deliver the product safely to the buyer. I give unsafe goods to others, others will give dangerous goods, causing the disease to my family - An expert from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

The abuse of pesticides has been talked about too much, but little has changed. How many people are really satisfied with the product they are eating every day? It's time to take strong measures when farmers in many places show signs of increasing pesticide abuse.

The excessive use of pesticides has been talked about too much, but little has changed. How many people are really satisfied with the product they are eating every day? It's time to take strong measures when farmers in many places use exceeding the allowable level of pesticides is increasingly alarming.

Spray 6-9 times for a crop

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam tends to import more and more pesticides and raw materials.

In August, Vietnam imported 79 million USD of pesticides and raw materials (about 1,800 billion VND), bringing the import value of pesticides and raw materials in the first 8 months of 2017 to over 660 million USD (over 15,000 billion VND). increased by nearly 47% over the same period in 2016. The main source of pesticide and raw material imports is China.

Mr. Pham Van Banh - planting 4ha of rice and intercropping crops in the 3rd crop in Chau Thanh district, Kien Giang - acknowledged that farmers are increasingly dependent on pesticides and herbicides.

Mr. Banh explained that in the past, the rice crop was grown with only one crop a year, the rice variety that day was very strong, the bushes were large, the rice plants grew tall, so there was almost no pest problem. But from the time of increasing from 1 season of rice/year to 2 or even 3 crops, the land did not have time to dry to kill pathogens, so it had to be sprayed with pesticides.

Mr. Banh detailed a 90-day rice crop with 7-8 sprays. Just finished sowing the rice is carried out spraying insecticides; pumping water into the field is to spray herbicides; then, depending on the type of pest, continue to spray many different types of drugs (usually several times), then apply pesticides for every 1 time. About 20 days before harvest, spray seeds with nutrients.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tung, deputy director of the Agriculture Department of An Minh district, Kien Giang province, recognized that in the rice fields, there are 2-3 crops, the average number of times of spraying pesticides is 6-9 times. Particularly in An Minh, due to the rotation of rice and shrimp farming, it must be sprayed at least 3 times.

Mr. Pham Van Banh calculated the cost of spraying pesticides at 7-8 million VND/ha/crop, growing vegetables still need to be spray more. "The type of medicine is impossible to remember, some make green, some make the fruit bigger, the skin shines, even after harvesting, you still have to spray to keep the vegetables fresh for a long time, avoiding the traders forcing the price" - Mr. Ban said.

Old farmer Bui Van Thanh (Ke Sach district, Soc Trang) said that this year's summer-autumn crop, following the advice, before sowing, he did not spray herbicides on the banks like every year. During incubation, he also did not mix drugs to stimulate germination, stopped spraying yellow apple snail killer. Then, after a week, the germination rate was less than 10% due to the attack of weeds and yellow snails. "Knowing how to overuse pesticides that are harmful to consumers and the environment, but not using them means accepting risks," said Mr. Thanh.

Mr. Thach Hien (Soc Trang city) also said that in order to grow vegetables and harvest, sometimes you have to do what you don't want, which is to spray pesticides. Wondering why there are so many insects now, Hien said that he is growing vegetables for his family to eat, sprayed vegetables for sale.

Engineer Le Van Da - Deputy Director of the Plant Protection Sub-Department of Kien Giang Province - acknowledged through field surveys that in recent years many farmers have not followed the instructions of specialized agencies on ingredients and dosage when spraying. pesticides. Some people even mix as many pesticides as they want to be more effective. "This is very wrong and dangerous," Mr. Da said.

Recommendations and reminders only

That is the affirmation of many leaders of the Commune People's Committee that the government will punish farmers if they abuse pesticides. According to Mr. Truong Thanh Binh, chairman of the People's Committee of Dai Hai commune (Ke Sach district, Soc Trang province), there are still many for-profit farmers who overuse pesticides.

Especially, when the rice is near harvest, many farmers abuse stimulants to make the seeds big and bright. In the last winter-spring crop, some farmers abused growth stimulants, causing seeds to crack, traders did not buy and sell to ducks.

"The locality mainly recommends and reminds people. The aim is to gradually change the habit of abusing pesticides in agricultural production," Mr. Binh said.

According to Mr. Cao Xuan Dieu - Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Huu Commune, An Phu District, An Giang, the commune recommends that people should not use pesticides a lot, regularly propagate on loudspeakers and remind them. "The commune has not sanctioned anyone and there is no regulation on sanctioning in this matter," said Mr. Dieu.

An expert at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said bluntly: the current excessive use of pesticides is an alarm. When meeting relatives, farmers, they say directly that they should not eat this vegetable or that fruit because it is about to be harvested, still spraying.

According to this expert, in order to reduce the risk of disease caused by chemical poisoning from pesticides for the people, the government must step in stronger, especially the commune authorities.

"There must be a strong sanction, considering the illegal spraying of drugs as a crime, causing death and illness to others" - the expert said and said that no one can use the excuse not to spray without profit. then sell poisoned food to others.

According to Mr. Tran Chi Vien - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Kien Giang province, in order to reduce dependence on pesticides as at present, the Government needs to have a strategy to build "clean" agriculture on a national scale. for localities to self-implement in a strong way that everyone can do it.

As an example, many localities now rotate shrimp farming in rice fields to have "clean" rice. But the products from here farmers only use to eat, or retail around the area.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hong - former director of the Department of Plant Protection, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development - suggested that in order to reduce the use of pesticides, there should be policies to promote the widespread application of integrated pest management measures in an organic direction. - biological.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Huyen, a well-known organic vegetable grower in Hanoi, said that her farm can fertilize vegetables with molasses brewed with microorganisms, control pests by hand-catching and diversify the list. crops on the farm. The first two years' yield was very low, but from the third year, the yield increased. Ms. Huyen believes that organic vegetable growers must be very patient.

According to experts, the problem is that the State must fight fraud, strictly handle those who mix vegetables of unknown origin into clean vegetables, so naturally clean agricultural products will gradually have living land, thereby limiting gradually unsafe agricultural products.

Farmers are the first to suffer the consequences

The harmful effects of pesticides are extremely dangerous. Experimental results show that with an 18-layer specialized mask, after spraying pesticides, the innermost fabric is still exposed to a significant amount of pesticides.

Meanwhile, workers or farmers spraying pesticides mostly do not wear gloves, many do not even wear masks. With such equipment, when spraying pesticides, there will be direct exposure.

Farmers need to follow the 4 right principles: the right medicine, the right time, the right ingredients and the right dose. With vegetables, agricultural products after spraying pesticides, it takes at least 15-20 days to be harvested.

Recently, we have heard many places where farmers spray chemicals to preserve the surface to increase the selling price right before harvest. This action is absolutely not recommended, if found, will be severely dealt with. When spraying pesticides, the sprayer must choose the direction on the wind, should spray at noon when it is sunny, avoid spraying right before it rains because the drug will be washed into the soil, into the groundwater, extremely dangerous to the community.

As a state management agency, we recommend that people limit the use of pesticides.

- Khoa Nam Tuổi Trẻ Newspaper