For years, much public concern has been raised on excessive use of chemicals in crop cultivation, which has led to unsafe agricultural produce that is subsequently detrimental to human health.
The basic root of the problem is being blamed on lax management by concerned agencies on allowing chemicals to circulate in the market that have no genuine certificate of origin.
According to the Department of Plant Protection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, there are more than 1,100 crop protection chemicals including all pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides that are easily available in the market.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Hanoi has just discovered several violations related to businesses selling crop protection chemicals.
For instance, a shop in Quang Oai Town in Ba Vi District in Hanoi was detected selling expired chemicals of one to two years. Moreover, inspectors discovered the store was stocking 1,500 phials of fruit ripening solution that stimulate fruits to ripen before time. Apparently, the chemical is illegal in Vietnam.
Market management teams in the Northern Province of Lao Cai said so many illegally imported vaccines and chemicals in agriculture are flooding through the border gates that market managers are snowed under with work. Due to high profits, traders supply these chemicals to meet the increasing local demand, disregarding the threat these pose to consumer health.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development must resume part responsibility because it has granted license to so many crop protection chemical businesses in the country, leading to confusion for managers who can’t even remember what is listed as legal, let alone farmers who don’t know what is best for their crops.
In September this year, the Department of Plant Protection had set up six inspection teams who were able to detect only six cases of violations.
Đăng ký: VietNam News