Fertilizers and pesticides are indispensable materials in agricultural production. Therefore, counterfeit producers and traders are ready to release substandard products to the market. To protect consumers’ rights, the provincial authorities have stepped up inspections, promptly detected and handled many cases of counterfeit and substandard products being produced and traded.
Inspectors of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development checked the quality of fertilizer production at Phu Nong Production and Trade Service Joint Stock Company, Bim Son town.
At this time, farmers in the province are focusing on taking care of spring crops, so the demand for fertilizers and pesticides is increasing. Ms. Le Thi Xuyen in Street 2, Tao Xuyen Ward (Thanh Hoa City) said: "My family has 3 sao of rice land and 2 sao of colored land, so the demand for fertilizers is up to several quintals per crop. Currently, the fertilizer and pesticide market is very rich in types and prices, I do not know which product to choose to be effective for crops. Therefore, when buying products, I often go to familiar stores and choose to buy branded products."
Mr. Nguyen Trong Thang in Hoang Chau commune (Hoang Hoa) shared: "On the 1 hectare area of asparagus grown by my family according to VietGAP standards, the source of fertilizer I use is organic microbial fertilizer, and pesticides are limited to the maximum extent. If I have to use it, I only use it when absolutely necessary and use pesticides that are on the list of permitted pesticides, helping to increase crop productivity, improve product quality, ensure safety and especially be environmentally friendly."
Thieu Yen Trading Joint Stock Company, Quan Lao Town (Yen Dinh) is a company specializing in supplying fertilizers through a system of 200 agents in the province. General Director of the Company Trinh Xuan Tan said: The source of fertilizer supplied to the market each year by the company is from 35,000 to 40,000 tons of all kinds. In the winter-spring crop of 2023-2024, the company imported 20,000 tons of all kinds of fertilizers and has supplied nearly 15,000 tons to the market. The company is committed to only trading in quality-assured fertilizers imported from branded fertilizer manufacturers in the Vietnamese fertilizer market such as: Phu My, Lam Thao, Han Viet... supplying to agents in the province at reasonable prices. Absolutely do not import unbranded, floating, fake, poor quality fertilizers... to avoid causing damage to agents and farmers.
In the province, there are currently 18 fertilizer manufacturing enterprises, 1 enterprise processing, bottling, packaging pesticides and 2,248 fertilizer and pesticide trading establishments. At fertilizer and pesticide trading establishments, the products for sale include products manufactured by branded enterprises and products of enterprises that are quite new and unfamiliar to consumers. The items are arranged in a messy manner and do not have price lists. In most stores, pesticide products do not have separate compartments and are arranged together with vegetable seeds.
Fertilizers and pesticides are the leading factors affecting productivity, crop quality and the health of users. However, most farmers when buying these products do not know which fertilizers and pesticides are of poor quality. Therefore, the choice of which product to buy depends on the feelings and recommendations of the business establishments, so it contains many risks.
To prevent counterfeit and poor quality goods and protect consumer rights, in addition to propaganda and recommendations for people to know, the functional sectors in the province have increased inspections, promptly detected and handled establishments producing and trading counterfeit and poor quality goods. In 2023 and 2 months of 2024, the Inspectorate of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection inspected, detected and handled 18 establishments selling goods that did not meet quality standards. The total fine was nearly 3,111.6 million VND; 32.14 tons of fertilizers were recovered and recycled; 160 liters and 60 kg of pesticides were collected and recycled.
In order to strictly control the fertilizer and pesticide market in the coming time, tighten the fight against counterfeit and poor quality goods, relevant departments, branches, forces of the province and local authorities need to step up propaganda work to raise awareness, understanding of the law and responsibility of producers and traders. Along with that, step up the inspection and surprise inspection of production and trading establishments, resolutely handle violations according to regulations if violations are detected.
For farmers, if you are suspicious about the quality of fertilizer, you should try it on short-term vegetables because you can know the results in just 5-7 days. When fertilizing, you should leave a small amount of the fertilizer along with the packaging and label, so that in case of an incident, you can still keep evidence and physical evidence. At the same time, immediately contact the authorities if you discover or suspect that a store is selling fake or poor quality fertilizer.
Article and photos: Minh Ly
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