Fake fertilizers are at an alarming level.
This is the assessment of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the current situation of the domestic fertilizer production industry. According to the Ministry, in most localities, fake and poor quality fertilizers are detected at a very high rate. State management in this field is also "problematic".
Fake fertilizers flood the market
Ms. Nguyen Kim Lien, Deputy Director of the Department of Chemicals (Ministry of Industry and Trade), said that recently, the production and trading of fake and poor quality fertilizers has reached an alarming level. Fake and poor quality fertilizers have been detected in most localities. In particular, many fertilizer products lack up to 80% of nutrients.
Statistics from the Department of Chemicals show that in 2011, competent authorities conducted inspections and took samples at a number of fertilizer production and trading units. The inspection results showed that 46.7% of the samples did not meet the applicable announcement on organic content, 46.6% of the samples did not meet the total nitrogen content, 33.3% of the samples did not meet the easily digestible phosphorus content... In particular, up to 41% of the analyzed samples showed violations of all three NPK factors.
In addition, in recent times, local market management forces have also increased inspection and control of agricultural materials, including fertilizers. Thereby, many violations of prices and measurement quality have been detected. As for fake, poor quality, and expired fertilizers, the amount seized has reached more than 1,000 tons. "We think this is just the tip of the iceberg, because the amount of fake fertilizers that have been successfully consumed and are still circulating on the market is many times larger, in almost all provinces and cities," Ms. Lien commented.
Explaining the reason, Ms. Lien said that in our country, fertilizer is considered one of the important products in terms of revenue and profit. Therefore, many enterprises from different economic sectors participate in production. Moreover, fertilizer has not been regulated as a conditional production and trading item, requiring a certificate or license, therefore, many small-scale establishments do not have the necessary conditions but still participate in production and trading. A number of manufacturers do not comply with State regulations, deliberately putting fake and poor quality fertilizers on the market. The amount of money farmers lose, both directly and indirectly, when using fake fertilizers, is up to hundreds of billions of VND/year.
Administrative procedures make it difficult for both management and production.
Currently, according to regulations, fertilizers are managed according to the list of permitted production, trading and use in Vietnam, issued and supplemented quarterly by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Mr. Truong Hop Tac, Head of the Fertilizer Department (Department of Crop Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) said that fertilizers not yet on the list must be tested to be recognized as new fertilizers, except for inorganic fertilizers, traditional organic fertilizers and fertilizers recognized by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as technical advances.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, with the policy of strongly developing the fertilizer industry to proactively serve domestic agricultural production and limit imports, domestic inorganic fertilizer production has been growing continuously. Currently, the production capacity of factories has met 80% of domestic demand with a total output of about 8 million tons of all types. More importantly, the main fertilizers that have a great influence on the market such as urea, NPK, phosphate, etc. have met domestic demand. |
To be listed in the fertilizer list, Mr. Tac said, it is necessary to go through 13 different administrative procedures. This causes difficulties for both manufacturers and the management agency. “Managing fertilizers according to such a list is very costly, takes time to test, makes it difficult to look up, does not allow traceability, leads to low management efficiency and is no longer suitable for practice,” Mr. Tac admitted.
Sharing the same view, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa said that currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development are both participating in State management of fertilizers. However, the main responsibilities before the Government are not really clear. Therefore, no agency has complete information on fertilizer production, trading, import and export activities. "The management is scattered and cross-checked in the style of "mid-way management" so it is naturally loose. In addition, at the local level, the fertilizer management agency lacks staff, analytical equipment... so fake fertilizers have more opportunities to be rampant," said Ms. Thoa.
From the above practice, Ms. Thoa believes that it is necessary to develop a new decree on fertilizer management. Accordingly, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will be responsible for inorganic fertilizers, while the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will manage organic fertilizers and other fertilizers. "The responsibilities of each State management agency must be clearly defined in order to put fertilizer production and trading activities into order," Ms. Thoa suggested.
According to (NNVN) - LC
