Vietnam promotes solutions to pesticide risks

In Vietnam, dramatic improvements have been made to pest management through farmer-participatory IPM programmes, but, argue Nguyen Him Huan and Dao Trong Anh of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Plant Protection, pesticide problems will continue unless there is a commitment to pesticide reduction strategies involving all key stakeholders.

Vietnam, like other developing countries, faces many pesticide problems. Farmers and other pesticide users usually ignore the risks, safety instructions and essential protective measures. Records trace 11% of all poisonings in the country to pesticides: approximately 840 poisonings in 53 cities and provinces in 1999(1). Pesticide use in rice fields has led to drastic reductions in the population of aquatic life(2). An alarming increase in pesticides sprayed on fruit trees has had significant effects on populations of soil organisms(3). 

Reliance on pesticides
The green revolution in rice farming was initiated in the North and South of Vietnam in the 1960s, and plays a significant role in intensive cultivation of rice and other short-season crops(4). The rice variety IR8, developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), was introduced by 1967-1968, and followed by other new varieties. In the South, IR8 was cultivated on 250,000 ha. This brought about profound changes which transformed rice production from extensive farming with a single crop per year to intensive farming with more than 1.4 million ha of rice cultivated area in the South by 1988(5).

    However, intensive farming is inevitably associated with increased pesticide use and, despite many achievements in pest management, farmers still regard pesticides as indispensable. Even when using new resistant varieties, farmers spray pesticides to control those pests to which the varieties are resistant(6). Surveys conducted by the Plant Protection Department in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1997 showed that 80% of farmers of the South in general - and in Long An province in particular - consider pesticide application is essential, compared with other control practices (Table 1).

    Pesticide risk reduction strategies in both developing and developed countries are turning away from intensive dependence on pesticides. Reduction strategies aim to promote agricultural production based on ecological and biological practices and organic farming. 

Management problems 
Pesticide management covers import, production, formulation, distribution, marketing, training, safe handling and obsolete stocks of pesticides. Before the 1990s, no pesticide management regulations were in place in Vietnam. With government subsidies, pesticides were imported and distributed to farmers by State agencies. On average, the annual pesticide use in the whole country was between 13,000-15,000 tonnes of finished products, including those in WHO categories extremely or highly hazardous. These included methyl parathion, monocrotophos and methamidophos, as well as the highly persistent DDT and HCH(7).
    Since 1990, pesticide management has improved with the introduction of regulations; development of an inspection network from central to grassroots level; and a stronger infrastructure for quality assurance. However, in 2000 a comprehensive nation-wide inspection conducted by the Plant Protection Department found(8):

• 2,388 pesticide retailers operating without a business licence (about 23.4% of all inspected retailers); 
• 5,132 out of 10,233 inspected retailers (50.2%) had no store for pesticides, and in many cases, the stores were failing to follow safety regulations (no fire and explosion extinguishers, no first-aid kits, and pesticides stored with construction materials, food and animal feeds.)
• 2,500 kg of banned pesticides (methamidophos, DDT and other chemicals); 
• 4,753 litres and 5,645 kg of illegally imported or counterfeit pesticides.

In August 2000, a survey of pesticide use among 480 farmers in four provinces in the South considered their confidence, attitude and practices in safe and effective use of pesticides(9). The survey found that: 

• 96.6% of farmers use pesticides excessively and not in compliance with the instructions on the labels; 
• only 4.8% know how to properly dispose of left-over pesticides; 
• nearly 95% of farmers pour spray remains into canals, ditches or spray on other plants or use it up by continuing to spray; 
• 38.1% bury pesticide containers and packing after use, most others discard containers in the fields, into the canals, ditches, ponds or sell to scrap collectors or utilize for other purposes.

These reviews highlight some major problems of pesticide management in the country such as: lack of facilities to deal with obsolete and confiscated pesticides; difficulties in export and domestic consumption of vegetables and fruits due to pesticide residues; smuggling of pesticides across the borders; inadequate pesticide stores to meet the environmental safety conditions; small labels with unintelligible print and safety symbols; and many other problems.

Duties of the national agency
Under current regulations, the Plant Protection Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is responsible for pesticide management. Vietnam officially approved and adopted the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) in 1990. In the period 1990-1993 FAO supported MARD to develop a regulatory system for pesticides in compliance with FAO guidelines. 
    The Ordinance on Plant Protection and Quarantine was enacted in February 1993, followed in November by Decree 92/CP with regulations on pesticides management. The regulations; updated on an on-going basis, have had a wide-spread impact on effective plant protection, the environment and community health. 
    However, no common national programme on pesticide risk reduction has been developed, and in some cases different institutions issue conflicting regulations. For example, definitions, formulations and types of pesticides are specified in the 1993 Decree, but the 1997 import/export tariffs of the Ministry of Finance introduced new and ambiguous definitions for pesticides.

Reducing risks
Solutions to reduce pesticide risks include: providing education and training in pesticides to retailers, agricultural extension workers, farmers, farmsteads; raising awareness in the community of the risks of pesticides; reducing pesticide abuses; eliminating hazardous and persistent pesticides, restricting the use of highly toxic pesticides, and introducing treatments for obsolete pesticides(10).
    In the past eight years, the number of pesticides on the restricted and banned lists has continuously increased (Table 2), and the quantity of restricted pesticides imported reduced between 1991 and 1998 (Table 3). The restriction and banning of highly toxic pesticides such as carbofuran, endosulfan, methamidophos, monocrotophos, methyl parathion, phosphamidon since 1994 has reduced pesticide impacts on the environment and community health. The number of cases of food poisoning due to residues of methamidophos in vegetables has reduced sharply since its ban. Pesticide residues in vegetables and fruits, imported and locally planted, in Ho Chi Minh City in the last two years (1999-2000) are relatively safe for consumption(11).
    A major problem is lack of a pesticide database - as used in the US and the European Union - to allow regular updating and information sharing between local and international institutions on reduction.

Less pesticides - more IPM
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) applies alternatives to reduce the reliance on chemicals. In Vietnam, IPM was first introduced and applied to rice pest management in the early 1960s(12). In 1989, Vietnam began to participate in the FAO's Southeast Asia Inter-country Program (ICP) on IPM. With FAO assistance, the programme started with ecosystem studies in rice fields in the North, Central and South of Vietnam from 1990-1991. The first 35 IPM master trainers in Vietnam were trained in the winter crops of 1992 in Long Dinh, Tien Giang. Since then, a series of training courses have taken place in six IPM Training Centres nationwide, as well as an IPM Farmer Field School (FFS) for farmers. By March 1999, 1,486 IPM trainers and more than 400,000 farmers, had received IPM training on rice(13). The Vietnam National IPM Program is co-ordinated by the National Steering Committee headed by a Vice-Minister of MARD and with representatives from Ministries of Science and Technology, Public Health, Finance, Education and Training, Planning and Investment, Vietnam Farmers' Association, the Women's Union and the Youth Union.
    Over the past 10 years, with the assistance from the governments of Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Denmark, from many non-governmental organisations, and local financial resources, a large number of IPM programmes on other crops such as vegetables, cotton, tea, soybeans, groundnuts have been implemented. Many other activities adding diversity to IPM training of the National IPM Program have been carried out: rice-fish IPM models, IPM clubs, golden snail management, rat management, rice disease management, seed rehabilitation, community IPM.
    In August 1990 Vietnam joined IRRI Rice IPM Network. One theme successfully implemented was the use of multi-media to quickly transfer technical knowledge to farmers. The campaign was launched by MARD in Long An province in November 1994 and carried out in two remote districts of Tan Tru and Tan Thanh. As of November 1997, 18 provinces in the South have applied this model using local funding, and nearly 550,000 farmers have adopted the approach on millions of ha of rice(14).
    Impact assessments came to the conclusion that: IPM has helped enhance farmers' decision-making skills in pest management, reduce investments due to fewer sprays and other costs (fertilisers), increase profits, diminish the abuses of pesticides, protect community health and environment. Both models have played important roles in changing farmers' perceptions, attitudes and practices in using pesticides (from three/four sprays to one in a single crop between 1992 and 1997) in the Mekong Delta(15,16). Farmers with IPM training have increased net profits by 20%. In addition, IPM programmes have helped significantly reduce farmers' medical costs due to pesticide poisoning(17). 

Solutions to pesticide risks
IPM
An OECD/FAO workshop(18) emphasised the important role of IPM in reducing pesticide risks, because IPM:

• reduces reliance on pesticides and encourages the application of other alternatives; 
• encourages the use of low risk pesticides in cases of inevitable pesticide use;
• prevents development of diseases through proper plant management and preservation of useful natural enemies and parasites;
• raises farmers' knowledge about diseases and ecosystems in the fields. 

National risk reduction programme 
A national programme on pesticide risk reduction is needed to consolidate the management efficiency of government agencies for the sake of the community and a sustainable environment. The National Chemicals Inspectorate (KEMI) from Sweden together with eight authors (including Vietnamese) developed a draft programme on pesticide risk reduction for three developing countries: Costa Rica, Tanzania and Vietnam to implement such programmes. The Plant Protection Department is developing this into a proposal for a programme, which would start with a National Workshop to attract the communities attention to the risks of pesticides, and to develop a common action plan among government agencies in close co-operation with international community, institutions and non-governmental organisations.

Nguyen Huu Huan is Deputy Director General, Plant Protection Department, 28 Mac Dinh Chi, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, pccsouth@hcm.vnn.vn; and Dao Trong Anh is Head of Pesticide Management Division, Plant Protection Department, 149 Ho Dac Di, Hanoi, Fax: 04 8 574 719.

1. Reported to a Workshop on Quality Management in Food Hygiene and Safety of the Food Administration of the Ministry of Health in Hanoi on 9 September 2000.
2. Department of Science, Technology and Environment, Scientific Report on the Assessment of Pesticide use in Ho Chi Minh City, environmental problems and solutions. Volume l, 1998. 
3. N.T. Thu Cue, N.V.Hung and L.Q. Dien, Insecticide use on fruit trees in a number of Cuu Long River Delta provinces. Proceedings of the first symposium on fruit production in the Mekong delta focusing on IPM. Can Tho, Vietnam, pp 106-109, 1998. N.T. Thu Cue, N.T.X. Thu, N.T.Tri, Some initial findings on the fauna of soil and impact of pesticide use on the fauna diversity of guava orchard, 1999.
4. Duong Hong Hien, Agriculture in Cuu Long River Delta. Ho Chi Minh City Publishing House, 1989, pp 64-91.
5. Ibid.
6. IPM Network - Phase II, 1994-1996, Proposal, IRRI Los Banos, Philippines.
7. Dam Quoc Tru, IPM in rural poverty alleviation - a case study of Vietnam. 1998.
8. Plant Protection Department, Report on Results of Nation-wide Inspection of Pesticide Regulation Enforcement in 2000, Large-scale Inspection Meeting for 2000 in Hanoi, 31 October 2000.
9. Nguyen Huu Huan, Le Van Thiet et al., Results of survey for confidence, attitude and practices in safe and effective use of pesticides, 2000.
10. Pers. comm. Ekstrom G., 2000.
11. Nguyen Huu Huan, Pesticide Residues on Vegetables in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper, Issue 101(860) 22 October 1999; Nguyen Huu Huan, Pesticide Residues on Vegetables in Ho Chi Minh city with improved situation, Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper Issue 129(1019) 5 September 2000.
12. Tran Quy Hung and Pham Thi Nhat, National Country Paper of Vietnam, report presented at the Meeting of the Steering Committee for Rice IPM in South and Southeast Asia, Phase III, Davao, Philippines,19-23 April, 1994.
13. Vietnam National IPM programme Brochure (August 1992-June 1999), 1999.
14. Report of three years Implementation of FPR in the southern provinces, Plant Protection Department, 1998.
15. K.L.Heong, M.M.Escalada, N.H.Huan, V. Mai, Use of communication media in changing rice farmer's pest management in the Mekong delta, Vietnam, Crop Protection, Vol.l7,No.5, pp413-425, 1998.
16. Nguyen Huu Huan, Vo Mai, K.L.Heong and M.M. Escalada, Changes in rice farmers' pest management in The Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Crop Protection 18:557-563, 1999.
17. Nguyen Huu Dung, Tran thi Thanh Dung, Economic and health consequences of pesticide use in paddy production in the Mekong delta, Vietnam.EEPSEA, Singapore, 1999.
18. Report of The OECD/FAO Workshop on IPM and Pesticides Risk Reduction, OECD Series on Pesticides Number 8, ENV/JM/Mono(99)7, Paris, 4/1999.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 53, September 2001, pages 6-7]