Nghe An Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection:40-year journey to protect golden seasons
Throughout its 40-year journey of formation and development, Nghe An Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection (BVTV) has affirmed its role as one of the pioneering and key units in protecting and improving the productivity and quality of local agricultural products. With four decades of dedication to the fields, the unit has not only fulfilled its mission of disease prevention and control but also contributed significantly to transforming the province's agriculture towards sustainability, safety and increased value.
Play the role of "gatekeeper" well, protecting the golden seasons
Established in 1985, during the 40-year development journey, one of the top priorities of the Nghe An Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection is to investigate, predict, and forecast plant pests and diseases. "Sticking to the fields, wading in the fields," with the motto of "accuracy", "timeliness", "not missing any objects", the unit has accurately predicted, forecasted, advised, and organized timely prevention of dangerous diseases, helping farmers proactively prevent and prevent pests from spreading, causing serious damage on a large scale, protecting thousands of hectares of crops, and preserving food production for the province.
Many serious pest outbreaks have been prevented such as: 2-spotted stem borer, long-legged stink bug, brown planthopper, rice blast, black-striped dwarf, pine caterpillar, sugarcane shoots, locust outbreaks that harm bamboo... In particular, new harmful organisms have been promptly investigated and detected, organisms that were previously secondary have gradually become major pests such as spider mites, black-striped dwarf, mobile yellow leaf that harm rice, fall armyworm that harms corn, phytopthora that harms oranges, Fusarium on upland crops, dieback that harms acacia...
From there, proactively advise, propose solutions and organize and direct the prevention and protection of production quickly and effectively; typically, the system of solutions to prevent and control Southern black-striped dwarf disease, spider mites, white-backed planthoppers, golden apple snails that harm rice; the system of management solutions to overcome the phenomenon of rapid degradation caused by pests on oranges, solutions to prevent and control grass shoot disease that harms sugarcane...
Research work on selecting plant protection solutions and specific drugs with low toxicity and high selectivity for consultation and recommendation has contributed to building an increasingly safe and sustainable field ecosystem and the frequency of pest outbreaks is increasingly low; clear evidence is that from 2018 to now, there has been no widespread pest outbreak in the province.
Ms. Vo Thi Nhung - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Agriculture and Environment
In particular, in the difficult but extremely important field of preventing foreign organisms from entering and affecting production, which is plant quarantine, the Department has detected and directed the timely and thorough containment of objects that have entered the area, such as potato scab in Ky Son in 1999, Mexican bean weevil in Vinh in 2007, 2015, 2021 - 2023.
With a large cultivation area, Nghe An consumes approximately 400 tons of pesticides and 350 thousand tons of chemical fertilizers each year. The Department has proactively advised the province in directing, managing the business and use of pesticides. Organized training and granted practice certificates to thousands of organizations and individuals trading and using pesticides and fertilizers; inspected, checked, detected, and advised on timely handling of violations such as production and trading of fake, unlisted, poor quality, expired pesticides, seeds, and fertilizers, contributing to protecting consumers and ensuring a legal corridor for businesses.
Towards clean agricultural products
Over the past 40 years, Nghe An Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection has played a pivotal role in promoting the application of scientific and technological advances, transferring advanced farming processes, especially Integrated Pest Management (IPM), to minimize the use of pesticides and protect the soil and water environment. At the same time, focusing on building and developing safe production models, supporting farmers in establishing growing areas that meet VietGAP, GlobalGAP and other food safety standards. This not only improves the quality of agricultural products but also opens up export opportunities and increases economic value.
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Many scientific and technological advances, projects and models have been responded to and replicated by farmers such as: Integrated Pest Management Program (IPM), System of Rice Intensification Program (SRI); Three Reductions, Three Increases (ICM) model for safe vegetable production following GAP direction; topics and research results on pest and disease prevention... Transferred to tens of thousands of farmers, these topics and models not only help production become more efficient but also contribute to raising awareness as well as product quality, protecting human health and the ecological environment, towards sustainable production.
In particular, in recent years, the Department has actively contributed to building growing area codes for export. This is a strategic step to clarify the origin of Nghe An agricultural products, helping the province's key products penetrate deeper into demanding markets, affirming the position and quality of Nghe An agricultural products; is clear evidence for the shift in thinking from simple agricultural production to developing a high-value, sustainable agricultural economy.
The Department has advised the Department of Agriculture and Environment to issue a decision to recognize 118 parent trees and 22 parent tree gardens, contributing to supporting organizations and individuals in exploiting breeding material sources and quickly putting recognized varieties into production; granting 118 domestic growing area codes for crops such as rice, vegetables, oranges, tea, sugarcane, etc. with an area of over 818 hectares, forming concentrated production areas and building a database on cultivation for growing areas.
Affirming its role in advising the Department of Agriculture and Environment in the field of cultivation, the unit has actively advised on the development of crop production projects for the Spring, Summer-Autumn - Winter crops every year in a timely and effective manner with the 6S motto (2 early and 4 close) drawn from practice.
That is: Develop the project as early as possible so that localities have time to develop production plans that are close to the actual conditions of the region; implement the project as early as possible so that localities, people and businesses can be proactive in production. Along with that, the time frame must be arranged close to weather forecasts; the crop structure must be close to local advantages; the output structure of crops must be close to forecasts and market demand; and finally, it is necessary to closely direct the grassroots, comprehensively direct the management of agricultural material quality, the application of scientific and technological advances, plant protection, irrigation, and policies.
The proof of the effectiveness of this advisory activity is that from there, localities have a basis for timely and accurate implementation at the grassroots level. The province's grain crop output in recent years has always met and exceeded the set target of more than 1.2 million tons/year. From 2016 to 2025, Nghe An has converted more than 3,900 hectares of ineffective rice land to other crops, with economic efficiency 1.5 to 3 times higher.
We will continue to focus on digital transformation in pest management, further expand safe production areas, and build Nghe An agricultural product brands to reach national and international levels, realizing the goal of "ecological agriculture, modern countryside, civilized farmers".
Mr. Nguyen Tien Duc - Head of Nghe An Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection
Forty years accompanying farmers, Nghe An Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection has become a solid bridge between science and production practice. With its achievements, the unit was honored to receive the Third Class Labor Medal from the President in 2000, Second Class in 2003; and was awarded the title "Excellent Labor Collective" by Nghe An Provincial People's Committee three times. Many Plant Protection Stations, cadres, civil servants and public employees were awarded Certificates of Merit by the Provincial People's Committee, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Prime Minister.
