Department of Agriculture and Rural Development inspects and responds to questions about product quality of North Central Fertilizer Factory

(Baonghean)After newspapers in general and Nghe An newspaper in particular reported different and conflicting information related to the quality of fertilizers of the North Central Fertilizer Factory (Thanh Trung Trading Joint Stock Company) in Nghi Phu Small Industrial Park (Vinh City), on August 6, 2012, the Department of Information and Communications issued Document No. 604/STT-QLBCXB requesting the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to inspect and have a unified conclusion to send to the press agencies to respond to stabilize public opinion and farmers' psychology when choosing fertilizers for agricultural production.

After the inspection, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Document No. 1720/SNN-TT dated August 15, 2012 in response to the quality of fertilizers of Thanh Trung Trading Joint Stock Company as follows: Regarding the information in the newspapers reflecting that fertilizers of the North Central Fertilizer Factory are of poor quality, causing farmers to suffer losses, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has re-examined and believes that reflecting information about poor quality fertilizers is necessary, but in the business of fertilizers as well as other materials for agricultural production, each production season a business unit sells thousands of tons of NPK, so encountering such small incidents is normal, the enterprise has directly inspected and committed to supporting farmers; and the fertilizer users have no questions or complaints.

Particularly, Nghe An newspaper, in the issue published on July 21, 2012, stated that the quality of fertilizers of the North Central Fertilizer Factory is guaranteed. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, through the sampling and analysis tests, found that the fertilizer samples of the North Central Fertilizer Factory all met the quality standards announced by the factory. The factory's fertilizer products are trusted by farmers in some localities and the factory has a market share in the fertilizer market in Nghe An, contributing to stabilizing the local market.

In addition to the above two information streams, the newspapers also reported the opinion of a professional officer, Head of the Department of Crop Production - Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, who, when answering the interview, used some terms that were not professional and consistent with the respondent's opinion. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that, in the entire interview content, the Department's professional officer only exchanged technical views and quality management views to explain the interviewee's questions, without any intention to criticize or praise or criticize the quality of any type of fertilizer.

Thus, from an incident that was not serious and had been resolved, the newspapers reflected and gave conflicting information, creating complicated public opinion, affecting consumer psychology, causing difficulties for press management agencies as well as specialized management agencies. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recommends that newspapers when using news and articles related to specialized management activities should direct the authors to consult with specialized agencies so that the reflection will be more convincing.

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
(General Bank)