Bio-pesticides struggling to get a foothold on market

Experts have rung the alarm bell over the sharp increases in the number of people who suffer from cancer. In 2000, 141 out of 100,000 men suffered from cancer, while the figure rose sharply to 181/100,000 in 2010. The figures for women are 101 and 134/100,000 in 2000 and 2010, respectively.

One of the main reasons behind these high proportions is the overuse of chemical pesticides. Vietnamese people eat a lot of vegetable and many of them raw. Meanwhile, the levels of pesticide residues in vegetables is now worryingly high .

Bio-pesticides – why not?

In fact, the substances with biological origins – the extracts from natural plants and herbs – wereused by Vietnamese farmers a long time ago. They used leaves and latex from some certain plants to kill the insects that destroyed their crops.

Nowadays, scientists from around the world produce bio-pesticides which are used in many plantations. The products kill harmful insects, while they do not cause environmental pollution and do not harm other animals and plants, and aer safe for humans as well as water resources.

Thanks to these advantages, bio-pesticide products have been used widely around the world. In India, those who grow vegetables in residential quarters must use bio-pesticides. Chemical pesticide can be used only in big farms, far from residential quarters, where farmers can manage the cultivation well and meet the requirements on PHT – Pre-harvest interval.

In Vietnam, biological pesticides have also been encouraged. However, the products is still not used widely , mostly because of the high prices . Most farmers still favour chemical pesticides which kill insects immediately, while the prices of the products are affordable.

That explains why bio-pesticide products still have to struggle hard to get a foothold on the market.

What to do?

In Vietnam, farmers only use bio-pesticide when they are forced to . Many importers now require “clean” farm produce which are cultivated with bio-pesticides. In order to meet the requirements set by choosy importers, Vietnamese farmers have to use bio-pesticides to grow tea trees, fruits, vegetables and high quality rice for export.

Meanwhile, farmers do not use bio-pesticides to grow the products for local consumption. Bio-pesticides aren’t used on rice fields on big scale, partly because Vietnam mainly exports medium class rice to easy-to-please markets like the Philippines, Indonesia, Africa or Cuba.

However, from the perspective of a long term development strategy, if Vietnam plans to export rice to Japan, Europe or the US, it has to think of using bio-pesticides products right now.

Experts have called for more drastic measures from the Government to make the use of bio-pesticides more widespread among farmers.

Experts believe that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should instruct its local departments to guide farmers on how to use bio-pesticides. In the immediate time, bio-pesticides can be used for vegetables, and then they will also be used for other farm produce. Besides, other measures should also be taken by the state, such as lowering the import tariffs, and facilitating the advertisement of bio-pesticides in mass media.