Clean production to reduce input costs

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Organic fertilizer production at Viet Farm Co., Ltd. Photo: Phan Anh

Accordingly, in order to save production costs, farmers are increasingly interested in switching to clean production to make organic fertilizers and biological drugs. In particular, many large corporations are focusing on building an organic production chain, which also contributes significantly to encouraging the domestic manufacturing industry to strongly transform in this safe direction.

 Organic production

Pesticides and chemical fertilizers are more expensive than ever. Accordingly, many farmers have actively converted to organic production, spending their own time making fertilizers and biological drugs to lower input costs. Safe agricultural products thanks to organic production also have better output, encouraging farmers to boldly change the habit of only pursuing productivity, despite the harmful aspects of the abuse of fertilizers and chemical drugs. Mr. Vu Van Manh (farmer in Vinh Tan commune, Vinh Cuu district) shared: “Many years ago, I was informed a lot about the benefits of using organic fertilizers and biological pesticides. I study but I don't care much. For about 2 years now, the locality has organized training courses on organic farming, instructing farmers to use probiotics to compost organic fertilizers and make their own biological products to kill insects.

At first, Mr. Manh and many other local farmers were not interested in participating because chemical fertilizers and drugs were cheap, convenient to use and often had immediate effects. For more than a year, the prices of fertilizers and chemical drugs have not stopped climbing. This is the reason why Mr. Manh and many local farmers decided to invest in self-composting tools from organic waste available in daily life and agricultural production. Mr. Manh uses waste sources such as dead chickens and ducks, catching snails that damage gardens, cheap trash fish bought locally, mixed with vegetables and leaves such as moringa tree branches, etc.

Currently, he has produced enough fertilizer for his family's 1.3 hectare guava and jackfruit garden; Using biological solutions to prevent, control pests and diseases of plants. As a result, he saved production costs, and at the same time, the gardener's clean fruit products were of good quality and sold at a better price than the market average.

Without spending much effort to make his own organic fertilizer, Mr. Tran Thanh Tung, a farmer in Binh Son commune, Long Thanh district, chose to improve garden soil by going to livestock farms to order cow manure, taking advantage of natural humus sources from rotten grass. As a result, hard-to-care and difficult plants such as durian and mangosteen in Mr. Tung's garden grow very well, the plants grow well, few fungi and diseases. Oriented to safe gardening for the purpose of garden tourism development, from the early days, Mr. Tung also prioritized the use of biological drugs. According to Mr. Tung: "Investing in organic gardening can be expensive at first, more labor-intensive, especially the effects are not immediate like fertilizers and chemical drugs, but gardeners will benefit in the long run. My brother has a durian garden that is nearly 20 years old, but still gives high yield and good quality thanks to the use of organic fertilizers and biological solutions, which are safe in the treatment of pests and diseases".

 
 Farmers in Binh Son commune, Long Thanh district converted to organic production, prioritizing the use of manure to reduce input costs. Photo: Phan Anh

Many support policies

The shift in production by farmers has encouraged enterprises producing and trading in organic fertilizers and biological drugs to expand production and develop consumption markets. Mr. Nguyen Van Danh, Head of the Southeast region of Viet Nong Agricultural Materials Joint Stock Company (HCMC) commented, in the past, it was difficult for biological drugs to compete with chemical fertilizers and drugs. But those farmers who have switched to using biopharmaceuticals will stick around for a long time. The good news now is that farmers who choose to use organic fertilizers and biological drugs have had a radical change in awareness. In particular, consumers are increasingly interested in prioritizing the use of clean and safe foods, greatly contributing to this change.

“The enterprise also determined that now is a good opportunity to develop the market of biological pesticides. Accordingly, businesses are promoting seminars on production areas; organize a team to provide technical guidance to gardeners, closely work with farmers in transforming production in a safe direction," said Mr. Danh.

In 2019, the factory producing organic fertilizer from livestock waste of Viet Farm Co., Ltd in Xuan Truong commune, Xuan Loc district went into operation with a capacity of 200 tons/day. Currently, this enterprise is implementing a plan to increase its capacity to 500 tons/day, the consumption market is not only covering the whole country but also targeting the export market.

According to Mr. Tran Quang Tinh, Director of Viet Farm Co., Ltd., the volume of chicken manure generated at chicken farms in the province is currently nearly 1.46 million tons/year. In addition, the percentage of chickens that are rejected, chickens that die in the breeding process are a huge amount of waste and need a lot of money to handle. The model of linking management, treatment, collection and production of organic fertilizers from manure and organic matter in livestock farms is a closed model, bringing benefits to both producers and breeder. To achieve the goal of increasing the current plant's capacity to 500 tons/day, the company is expanding the production of organic fertilizer from pig waste, contributing to solving the current huge environmental problem of the company. Dong Nai is in the top of the country in terms of total pig herd.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is focusing on implementing the organic agriculture development project for the period of 2020 - 2030. The goal is to develop organic agriculture with high added value, sustainability, and eco-friendly associated with a circular agricultural economy serving domestic consumption and export.