Entanglement in fertilizer management

It is estimated that there are about 20,000 fertilizer products being produced, circulated and used in Vietnam. Photo for illustration.

Multiple types

According to the Department of Plant Protection (MARD): There are 735 qualified fertilizer production units in the country. In addition, there are still nearly 200 dossiers of application for certificates of eligibility for fertilizer production awaiting appraisal in the coming time.

Compared to the demand for fertilizer, the production capacity of domestic production units now is 3 times higher. About products, by the end of 2017, the number of fertilizer products being produced, traded and used is 14,318. It is estimated that there are about 20,000 fertilizer products being produced, circulated and used in Vietnam in the cases stipulated in the Decree No. 108/2017/ND-CP dated September 20, 2017 of the Prime Minister on fertilizer management that are validated for circulation until September 20, 2018.

Mr. Thao Xuan Sung, Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of Vietnam Farmers Association said: In fact, the number of fertilizer production facilities and types of fertilizer products are much larger due to “hidden” production, not eligible to be licensed. Thousands of fertilizer production facilities with tens of thousands of fertilizer products are on the market leading to the spread of fake and poor quality products. Farmers fall into the “matrix” when choosing these items due to not knowing and understanding the effects, and being unable to distinguish or recognize the quality.

Strengthen inspection and supervision

According to Mr. Luong Quoc Doan, vice chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Peasants' Association, one of the main causes of shortcomings in the management, production, supply and use of fertilizer is policy, law on fertilizer management is inadequate. The Decree No. 108/2017/ND-CP has tightened fertilizer management, which is overcoming the overlapping and ineffective state management agencies. However, this Decree has not yet provided a solution to the shortcomings and limitations of policies and laws on the management of production, trading and use of fertilizers in the past such as the management under standards, assay, fertilizer sampling…

Besides, the State management of fertilizer in some localities hasn’t been strict, notably authorities at local levels. Especially, there is protectionism among the private interests of state officials, cadres with enterprises, manufacturers, businesses who are wrongdoing, for benefiting from the farmers. A typical example is the violation of fake fertilizers of Thuan Phong Company (Dong Nai Province), through the directions of 2 terms of Prime Ministers and 7 Ministries, it has not been handled completely.

A representative from Linh Nam Agricultural Service Cooperative (Hoang Mai, Hanoi) stated that the management of fertilizer quality and agricultural materials of functional agencies did not meet the requirements, because even though poor fertilizer quality is popular and cheap, it damages crops. The State should strengthen the inspection and supervision of the fertilizer quality on the market, especially the types of fertilizer labeled microbiological fertilizer, organic fertilizer; it should have the mechanism to further create conditions for organizations, individuals and economic sectors to invest in technologies for organic fertilizer production in such forms as reduction of land rent for construction of factories, providing preferential loans for investment in technologies, for using electricity at preferential prices.

Representatives of Lam Son Sugarcane Joint Stock Company expressed, “As one of the companies involved in fertilizer production, we agree with the Government to tighten the conditions for production and trading of fertilizers to limit unfair business production in the market. In addition, the Government should have policies and incentives to facilitate the development of businesses such as: Create conditions on land planning, tax incentives, resources, corporate income to improve production technology; create favorable conditions for enterprises to access preferential capital sources and funding sources in order to apply research and development of fertilizer production technologies to create high-yield and high-quality products, meeting the requirements of lower costs production for farmers.”

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh emphasized: Vietnam has too many fertilizer products, too many fertilizer production facilities. Fertilizer management is not paid the attention it needs, especially on standards for quality control. “With the role assigned by the Government to manage fertilizer, the MARD will finalize legal documents on fertilizers. When switching to fertilizer management in accordance with the Decree No. 108/2017/ND-CP, the MARD will try to complete the process of reviewing and evaluating quality records of fertilizer products on the market; reviewing, evaluating and adjusting fertilizer production facilities to eliminate poor quality fertilizer production establishments. In fertilizer management, the MARD will also strongly decentralize to localities, continue to boost domestic production and limit import,” said Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh.