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US rejects rice because of pesticide residues
  • | plHCM, dtinews.vn | October 03, 2016 11:10 AM
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Vietnam may lose its foothold in the US if it can't address the overuse of pesticides by farmers.

 

Only 10 companies are able to export quality rice to the US

Vo Thanh Do, deputy head of Department of Processing and Trade for Agro, Forestry and Fisheries Products and Salt Production, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said they had to issue a warning on September 30 about the situation as 95 containers of rice shipments weighing 1,700 tonnes, have been returned in the first four months of 2016 because of pesticide residues.

Firms that have shipments returned repeatedly will be banned from exporting to the US.

Pham Thai Binh, director of export company Trung An, said, "Companies that are compromising rice quality are endangering Vietnam's reputation in the US and the world. If this can't be fixed, Vietnam may lose markets and be banned from exporting."

According to Binh, both farmers and firms should take the blame. Farmers still abuse pesticides and fertilisers while many firms don't follow Vietnamese or global good agricultural practices.

After years of exporting huge volumes of goods to China and Africa, which don't require high-quality rice, farmers are used to pursuing quantity, not quality.

"Europe, Japan or the US require high-quality products and will even ban rice that contains pesticides. These markets require lower amounts of high-quality produce, so the farmers aren't really concerned," Binh said.

A representative from Vietnam Food Association further explained that there was a time when farmers were encouraged to increase crops through the use of fertilisers.

As a result, they had to face even more diseases and farmers were forced to use even more pesticides. Vietnam is now losing out to Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar. Cambodia uses the same rice seeds but they have successfully exported produce to the US and Germany.

On the other hand, dependency on pesticides and other chemicals to increase the grain rice size is costing Vietnam the chance to make high-quality rice. In addition, some firms also mix different types of rice together and are rejected.

Vietnam continues importing huge amounts of pesticide, mostly from China. During the first three quarters of this year, Vietnam spent USD496m on pesticides and other materials.

In reality, many people are still using banned chemicals. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Ministry of Health are responsible for managing this issue, but the results are ineffective.

Director of Viet Hung Company Nguyen Van Don said, "About 10 companies are able to export quality rice to the US. And those are companies that plant their own rice instead of buying produce from small farmers."

Don suggested establishing co-operatives as a solution. The co-operatives will rent farm land to plant crops so that they will have full control over the process.

Director of Trung An Company Pham Thai Binh agreed that firms must have closer relationships with farmers in order to set up high-quality material areas. He went on to say that Vietnam should invite consultants from Japan or the US to help.

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