Phung Thi Hung, chair of the Hanoi-based Cat Tuong Technology and Import/Export Company, has announced that her company has successfully made safe herbicides from natural herbs.
Hung, speaking at a workshop on controlling pests and protecting plants with biological methods in green agriculture, held on April 21 in HCMC, introduced the herbicide which can kill many weed species without harming people and plants.
To prove that her herbicide is safe to humans, Hung drank a bottle of herbicide at the workshop.
Dr Nguyen Dang Nghia, director of the Southern Research Center for Soil, Fertilizer and Environment, said he wanted to try the herbicide and drank a bottle of herbicide provided by Hung.
The organizing board of the workshop said that Hung had cured herself of cancer.
Hung, who served in the armed forces for a period, said she suffered from serious illness when she was 39 years old and was rejected by hospitals.
As she was passionate about herbal medicine, after curing herself of the disease, she spent 13 years to create safe herbicides.
Hung introduced many plant protection products. They were differentiated with colors and used for different kinds of plants, from rice to industrial crops.
The product can eliminate weeds and help clean fields before farming, while the pink product kills grass without harming rice.
Asked how the plant protection products work, Hung said they inhibited the germination of glass seeds, thus preventing grass from developing.
Other products, when sticking to grass surface, will prevent the photosynthesis of grass, causing weeds to die.
These products taste differently. One of them has a mint flavor, another a milk tea flavor. Herbs are the major elements of the plant protection products, processed according to micro-biotechnology.
According to Hung, the retail price is VND400,000-445,000 per liter.
A senior official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), who also attended the workshop, said the product has not been registered with state management agencies and is not included on the list of products allowed to be marketed.
If Hung’s company files to register the products now, the products will appear in the market within one year at the earliest.
“No country in the world can make products with such characteristics as introduced. If Hung can make such products, she will be a superhero,” he said.
The director of a company specializing in making microbial preparations said that some products are drinkable, but this does not mean they will have an effect on fields.