Phrases like pesticides and pesticides are a no-brainer, especially for those in the agricultural industry. Plant protection drugs (Pesticides) are drugs that seem to be indispensable in the current agricultural farming in the country. Therefore, countless types of pesticides are produced to serve many different purposes of growers.
Experts warn that the use of pesticides is at an alarming rate in our country’s agriculture. There is even a phenomenon of farmers “addicted” to using pesticides in some places. The situation of pesticides being widely produced and sold in the market creates a matrix and a dramatic choice of farmers.
Currently, pesticides are very diverse and abundant for all crops. In general, pesticides can be classified according to the following two aspects:
Pesticides are produced mainly with 2 main sources: synthetic chemicals or biological origin.
Products of biological origin are inherently the methods used in ancient farming. As people gradually become aware of the consequences of chemical products, products of biological origin are put into reuse. However, because the effect is slow and must be used many times, farmers gradually become “addicted” to chemical pesticides.
When you are a fertilizer trader, you will certainly hear farmers complain about pests and diseases such as: “This drug is not effective, this drug is slow to work, spraying forever does not work. over,….” And this seems to be the day-to-day story of drug sales. Like the following conversation:
“In the shop of pesticides and fertilizers at the foot of Day river dike, Hoai Duc district (Hanoi), the owner of the guava garden is complaining about the herbicide purchased last time not working. “The grass is taller than guava, it’s expensive, but it won’t die if you spray it forever”, the old farmer ruffled his hat, exasperatedly lamented. Minh, the shop owner, explained that it was a biological drug, safe, so it was expensive and had to be used repeatedly to be effective, but only received a resolute response from the customer: “You don’t sell me to another product.” . The owner of the plant protection drug store took out three bottles of “rare medicine” and told the customer: “This time the grass doesn’t die, I don’t take money”.
The special thing here is that these three bottles cost less than half of a bottle of biological medicine. I refused to name the drug, but explained to the reporter: “This drug is banned, but other active ingredients are more expensive. It took a whole day for him to mow the lawn with a mat, spray this spray a little bit. Everything has to be economic.”
Her shop has three things that have attracted people from all over the region to buy goods for 16 years: credit, good medicine and “rare medicine”. In an agricultural commune with less than 2 square kilometers, there are 3 shops selling agricultural supplies, refusing to sell “forbidden goods” means chasing customers.”
Rare drugs are not rare
According to the Plant Protection Department, banned drugs from entering Vietnam are mainly due to smuggling and small scale. In the first seven months of 2016, authorities arrested 40 smuggling cases from Cao Bang, Lao Cai and Lang Son provinces, and burned 5 tons of drugs. In May 2018, Lang Son authorities seized 3 tons of chemicals smuggled from China with more than 10,000 products of herbicides, spiders, snails, pesticides, soaked bananas, and growth stimulators of bean sprouts. Many types of extremely toxic have been banned in Vietnam. These drugs were then brought to Hai Duong for destruction.
“Beautiful goods, super sharp prices, if you want to inbox me”, the status line with a photo of a herbicide bottle with the image of a fire-breathing dinosaur with the slogan “Touch is fire” was posted on a Facebook group. In order to increase the reliability of the product, the seller commits to “paraquat products, 1-liter bottles, spray two hours and the grass dies”. Four minutes later, a person commented: “Is there any stock?”, made an appointment to get 20 boxes, and asked to send a bus to Van Ho, Son La.
Herbicide bottles contain paraquat, which is banned for agricultural use in more than 40 countries. In February 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam removed paraquat from the list of circulating pesticides. But on May 25 this year, many products are still offered for sale for 125,000 VND per 1-liter bottle at many public addresses on the Internet, including reputable e-commerce sites.
Vietnam’s northern neighbor is the world’s largest producer of pesticides. Vietnam is their biggest market in Southeast Asia, next to Thailand. Their main export items are paraquat and glyphosate – two substances that have been completely banned in Vietnam.
But AgroNews – a Chinese agricultural technical news site based in Chongqing – at the end of 2018 reported that from January 2018 to November 2018, the amount of paraquat exports from China to Vietnam after the order ban only “92% reduction”.
Lagoote 210SL containing the banned active ingredient Paraquat is still for sale online.
On Facebook, on June 15 of this year, an account sold Wusso 550EC, a product containing chlorpyrifos ethyl, an active ingredient banned from February 2019. The seller even accepts to make a private label if the buyer needs it. Two days later, another user advertised 300 boxes of Dosate 75.7WG and 100 boxes of Haihadup 480SL. Both brand names contain the active ingredient glyphosate, which is also on the banned list from April 10, 2019.
From ads on social networks and agricultural supply stores like Ms. Minh’s, banned drugs reach farmers and spill into the fields.
Minh has never attended a training school on agricultural knowledge. For three generations of her family, she worked in the fields. After the wedding day, Minh and her husband went to weigh lychee, longan, orange and grapefruit throughout the North, packed foam packages to send by plane to the West to sell. In the summer 2003 litchi crop, the couple returned to their hometown, rented land to plant fruit trees, and became the first millionaires in the commune. “It’s the biggest school, isn’t it?” Minh is confident that his knowledge of pesticides and fertilizers is superior to the agricultural staff in the training class.
In the 2000s, people in Hoai Duc went to buy pesticides every time they went to the street. Minh’s agricultural supply store opened in 2005, the first establishment of the whole commune. “I just sold and learned, sold it wrong to sell it right. Farmers taught me a lot,” she recalls.
Nearly a year after opening, the store welcomed the first inspection team to “visit”. Minh does not have a license to practice, must register for a professional training course on plant protection drugs organized by Ha Tay province (former).
“It is three months, but only two times a week. Nearly 100 people, all selling core life, come to take attendance and then sit and play. The guys who trained me are sure to let them sell as much as I did”, Minh summed up the course, “nobody failed, anyone who speaks often gets an extra medal”. After three months, Minh brought back a pile of documents, books that had never been touched and a business license, which helped her no longer fear the inspection by the authorities. “There are rare drugs, I’m not stupid to keep them at the store,” Minh said.
According to Head of Legal Inspection Department, Ha Noi Sub-Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, Ms. Luu Thi Hang, the purchase and sale of plant protection drugs has developed both on social networks, delivery via transportation services, etc. Buyers and sellers do not know each other, making detection even more difficult.
In Hanoi, the inspection and management of pesticide use is assigned to commune and ward authorities. The city’s specialized plant protection inspectors only go once a year, if they see signs of violations, they are entitled to continue inspection. Prior to the inspection, local and business premises must be notified in advance and must be inspected only in-store.
Pesticides mixed by farmers to spray on pomelo trees. Photo: Thanh Hue.
Farmers fend for themselves
In early June, a perennial distributor brought Ms. Minh a model weed killer, used on sugarcane. “You can sell, any grass can be sprayed, bear grass is very good,” he offered.
Minh and his wife trust their partners, see good profit sharing, import and sell. The drug is registered on sugarcane, but she sells it to the whole papaya garden. Four days later, the owner of the papaya garden called to catch the temple. “The whole garden is covered, the grass is still growing”, the customer shouted into the phone. At noon on June 14, Minh’s husband and a distributor’s representative went to the garden to calculate the damage and compensate the owner of the papaya garden.
Minh said “such occupational accidents are common, the fault of the distributor, I have nothing to worry about”. But her husband also admits sellers like they are cornered. Because manufacturers often target the market for staple crops, small plants have almost no specific treatment. Pharmacists had to “creatise”, instruct farmers to use the medicine of this plant to treat other diseases, or mix different types together.
“Domestic enterprises also choose key products to register, so many crops do not have drugs,” said Huynh Tan Dat, head of the plant protection drug management department, Plant Protection Department.
According to Mr. Dat, businesses also tend to register a lot of content on the same product, it is difficult to know clearly about the effectiveness and quality. Therefore, farmers also cannot follow the 4 right principle: prepare the right dose, use the right medicine, spray the right medicine, isolate on the right day.
According to the World Bank, “only a small number of pesticide sellers, extension agents and farmers understand pesticides properly.” And this arbitrary mixing and dosing makes it impossible for farmers to succeed in “Integrated Pest Management (IPM)” – that is, instead of killing pests, they can kill both natural enemies and plants. cultivated, wasteful, toxic and even make pests resistant to drugs.
While waiting for an autonomous and balanced production, farmers like Ms. Minh’s customers will still be loyal to a drug that is both cheap and “kills one shot”. And sellers like Minh, continue their journey to pamper customers to keep the termites. “The cost of farming is high, but everyone wants to eat cheap fruit, farmers have to starve,” said Ms. Minh.
Source: https://vnexpress.net
