Vietnam - A lot of scientific research works remain… on paper

A lot of microbial preparations have been created which have special advantages of being safe to users and environment. However, they have never become commercial products to be used in a large scale.


Dr Duong Hoa Xo from the HCM City Biotechnology Center in HCM City, said that in 2000, only two biological pesticide products were recognized, while 193 products have been licensed so far, raising the total number of biological products allowed to be put into circulation to 479. These include 300 pesticides and 98 fungicides.

Great scientific research works…

VINEEM 1500 EC, a product of the Southern Pesticide Joint Stock Company, has been well known among scientists as a pesticide with biological origin extracted from Neem seeds (Azadirachta indica A. Juss), which contains Azadirachtin active element, effective for preventing a lot of different kinds of pestilent insects existing on plants, including rice, vegetable, industrial plants, fruit trees and ornamental trees.

The herb-origin pesticide has a big advantage that it does not affect natural enemies and does not leave residues on plants. The pesticide can kill pestilent insects by causing inappetence and harming the reproduction capability 

Most recently, the scientists from the Vietnam Agricultural Science Institute made out seven preparations belonging to the biological pesticide group, including BT (Bacciluss Thuringiensis var) with bacterial origin, broad spectrum capable to kill different types of worms.

Insects will stop eating just several hours after eating the preparations, and die just within 1-3 days after the pesticide is spread out. The biological product has been found as having high efficiency of 75-89 percent in laboratory and in the fields.

… remain unfamiliar to farmers

Though scientists have to work hard in laboratories to find out useful biological products friendly to the environment, their products find it hard to reach out to farmers and become popularly used products.

To many Vietnamese farmers, biological pesticide remains unfamiliar concept. Nguyen Thi Hong from the Phu Huu Agriculture Cooperative in Me Linh district in Hanoi, said that she never used biological pesticide, simply because she does not know where the products are sold, and she has never heard about the products. Hong attended many training courses on agricultural production held by district’s localities, but no one had mentioned such a kind of products.

According to the Plantation Protection Institute, biological pesticide products have only been used in a small scale, even though scientists have many times affirmed the outstanding advantages of the products over chemical pesticide. Only 10 percent of pesticide products used by farmers are biological preparations, while the other 90 percent are chemical products.

Scientists say that the development of biological preparations in agricultural production has been facing a lot of difficulties due to the lack of the experimental establishments and the poor facilities of the establishments. Most of the scientific discoveries remain on paper, on laboratories, or just have been produced on a trial basis, while they have not been commercialized.

Nguyen Thanh Tung, a senior official from the Institute for Scientific and Technological Strategies and Policies, has blamed this on the unreasonable management mechanism over scientific research projects.

Tung said that a lot of projects assigned by ministries do not have much significance because they cannot be applied in reality. Meanwhile, the scientific research works at lower levels cannot be funded by the state budget to develop. 

The improper marketing strategy has also been cited as the reason that makes biological pesticide products unfavorable by farmers. Distributors always pay more attention to introducing chemical pesticide, while biological pesticide does not have reasonable marketing budget. As a result, farmers just want chemical pesticide, the one which kills insects, while they do not think much about the possible bad impacts on the environment.

Dat Viet


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