The proposed programme - part of an effort to have Vietnam’s tea farmers reduce their use of chemical pesticide through Integrated Pest Management, or IPM - would have the ministry’s Plantation Department as co-ordinator.
Its implementation would be the responsibility of the Plant Protection Department, the Viet Nam Tea Association and other relevant organisations.
The programme would include research and development of a chemical-free tea growing zone with appropriate investment in equipment and technology to ensure ecological stability.
It would also encourage the application of IPM among tea growers that would include instruction for farmers in appropriate cultivation techniques and the use of non-chemical substances to protect their crops.
The farmers are used to spraying chemicals rather than adapting other methods to deal with pests, says Plant Protection Department director Nguyen Quang Minh.
Yet IPM promises stable crop growth and less environmental damage.
It utilises all effective measures - biological, physical and mechanical - to reduce the harm insects cause and degradation of the environment while increasing profit.
Tea farmers spray from one to five times for each crop.
Tea: A major export crop |
Vietnam is a major tea exporter with more than 127,000ha in 35 provinces planted with the crop. Land planted for commercial tea totals 110,000ha and provides a yearly harvest of more than 700,000 tonnes of buds.
Tea is easy to grow and ensures farmers a stable income.
It has made a considerable contribution to the reduction of poverty in the central lowlands, the northern highlands and the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands). About 65% of the harvest is exported to 69 countries. |
Few provincial agricultural extension technicians instruct the farmers to use the chemicals in a way that is either safe or effective.
"Farmers use chemicals to protect their tea, but the rate of disease and insect infestation does not fall because the job is not done properly, says senior Plant Protection Department inspector Trinh Cong Toan.
The Plant Protection Department wants the tea and other farmers to abandon their dependence on chemicals for biological protection substances.
Several biological substances that are not harmful to health are available to protect tea from insects.
The substances are made of vegetable materials and can help make crops both more productive and safe.