Confused in solving the problem of 'clean' agricultural products

(Baonghean) - Producing safe products is currently a "hot" issue that is of particular concern to society, especially in the agricultural sector. Solving this issue requires attention right from the production stage, however, reality is posing many difficulties and shortcomings that need to be resolved.

Difficult to replicate the model

Agricultural and food production is an important step in producing safe and hygienic food products. However, agricultural production today is mainly based on the “free” farming method of farmers; that is, when there is an epidemic or pest, pesticides are sprayed on crops or antibiotics are used on livestock that are sold freely on the market.

The overuse of inorganic fertilizers in farmers’ production also affects the quality of vegetables and tubers. Some farmers, for profit or due to limited awareness, have used stimulants or sprayed pesticides without enough quarantine time before bringing them to market. This is the problem that public opinion has long believed that farmers still discriminate between “vegetable beds for home consumption and vegetable beds for sale”.

The Central Food Safety Inspection Team inspects a ham production facility in Vinh City.

To solve the above situation, it is necessary to change the production method through applying safe production models, from selecting varieties, applying production processes to harvesting. However, the implementation in the province is facing many difficulties and obstacles.

Dien Chau district is considered a locality with a fairly strong agricultural development, including both crop and livestock farming; farmers are also quite active in applying scientific and technical advances to agricultural production, but the implementation of safe production models is still facing difficulties. Mr. Le The Hieu - Head of the District's Department of Agriculture said: Although the district has widely disseminated and trained farmers on safe vegetable production, the actual implementation is still very modest. Currently, in the district, there are only a few safe production models, including vegetables in Dien Thanh and Dien Loc communes; chickens with egg products in Dien Trung commune; pig farming in Dien Tho commune.

Similarly, in Thanh Chuong district, from self-sufficient agricultural production to commodity production, there has not been a production model that meets VietGAP standards. In practice, Thanh Chuong district has only developed and implemented a project to develop Thanh Chuong hill chicken; for tea trees, people only apply NPK fertilizer once at the base at the end of the season - after harvesting; therefore, although no testing has been conducted to recognize VietGAP quality standards, it can be said that the above two products are both clean. In Nghi Loc district, according to Mr. Vo Ba Long - Head of the District Agricultural Extension Station, although the district has directed, there has not been a clean production model according to VietGAP standards.

Acknowledging that the application of food safety production models is still modest in the province, Mr. Duong Van Hung - Head of the Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Product Quality Management of the province, said: The construction of models has long relied on the subjects of cooperatives and farming households. During the construction process, the State only supports funding for technical training, consulting, and evaluation to recognize safe products with the application period usually within the first year of model implementation, so many models end when the support ends, the model also ends; because farmers do not want to spend money to have their products evaluated, tested, and recognized as safe.

This makes it more difficult to consume products because consumers and consumers cannot use products with confidence without a certification organization. If consumption is difficult, production will also stop or even lose the model. Another difficulty is that to produce a good product, it is necessary to follow the correct production process, monitor and record a full diary, detailed growth as well as abnormalities and measures applied to crops and livestock during the production process. Meanwhile, partly due to lack of habit, partly due to the scale of mainly small-scale farming households, this issue is easily overlooked by farmers.

The Central Food Safety Inspection Team inspects BigC Vinh supermarket. Photo: Thanh Chung.

Referring to another reason, Mr. Le Dinh Thanh - Vice Chairman of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee said: The key issue is that farmers' awareness is still limited, they are still competing for economic profits and productivity, so the products that are truly safe are still limited. On the other hand, in addition to products that are made according to strict processes and recognized by VietGAP standards, there are many products that are produced to ensure safety, but no agency, organization or unit determines safety, but they are equating both quality and price with unsafe food, affecting the encouragement of farmers to produce clean food. Because in fact, in the production process, using safe products to fertilize crops or livestock will result in lower productivity and output. These are the obstacles that affect the construction and replication of safe production models.

Appropriate mechanisms are needed.

Proposing a solution, Mr. Duong Van Hung emphasized: To have safe agricultural products, it is necessary to encourage organizations to link from production to product consumption according to the value chain. This is not only a solution that plays a decisive role in the sustainability of agricultural production but also manages the root cause of food safety issues at all stages: from production to processing and product consumption. Products produced according to the chain model are all monitored in the production process, sampled for safety monitoring by competent authorities and issued with product certificates that have been inspected. This is a condition for consumers to have confidence in using the products. To do this, there must be a role for businesses or cooperatives, cooperative groups in linking with farmers, accumulating land and farmers themselves will directly participate in production to create a large chain of quality products to supply the market. Therefore, the province needs to have strong enough mechanisms and policies to attract businesses to participate in this field.

Regarding science and technology solutions, Mr. Tran Quoc Thanh - Director of the Department of Science and Technology, said: In the near future, the Department will coordinate with organizations and individuals to promote research and application of some biological pesticides to replace current chemical pesticides to reduce food insecurity on orange trees, rice and some other crops. Deploy some hydroponic vegetable growing models in Vinh city, Cua Lo town... Increase the application of living bedding in livestock farming to protect the living environment for livestock, reduce diseases, thereby reducing the use of antibiotics for livestock. At the same time, use digestive enzymes in food, helping livestock metabolize well; associated with the import and crossbreeding of breeds, improving meat quality, reducing the use of lean substances in pig farming...

Along with the above solutions, during the research process, we have recorded many recommendations that there should be a policy to support the development of long-term safe food production models, instead of the current first year, because each model is new, and to change production methods and practices requires a certain process and time. On the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen State management and enhance the responsibility of the entire political system on food safety and hygiene in the spirit of Directive No. 13/CT-TTg of the Prime Minister and Decision 61 of the Provincial People's Committee, dated October 12, 2016 on regulations on the assignment of responsibilities and coordination of State management on food safety and hygiene.

Article and photos:Plum Blossom