Two farmers take care of organic vegetables at a greenhouse in Lam Dong province (Photo: VNA) The ambassador was speaking at an experience-sharing seminar on organicproduction on November 25.
He said the agriculture landscape has been transformed over the last decadeswith the emergence of new plant varieties, animal breeds, technologicalinnovations and farming techniques.
However, this transformation has come at an expense of negative environmentalimpacts, including soil degradation, soil pollution, and increasing greenhousegas emissions.
A shift to sustainable farming such as organic is a solution thatnot only tackles these challenges but also contributes to countries' effortstowards achieving United Nations' sustainability development goals by 2030.
"We are pleased to see that over the last few years theVietnamese government has made a strong effort to develop its agriculturalsector in sustainable way," said the ambassador.
Nguyen Quoc Toan, director of the Agro Processing and Market DevelopmentAuthority, said organic production in Vietnam soared from 19,270ha in 2010 to53,350ha in 2016, securing the third position in ASEAN.
By late 2021, the country had 17,174 organic producers, 555 processingfacilities, 60 exporters and 40 importers. There are 32 authorised bodies incharge of organic certification and 102 bodies of registration-code-granting sofar.
He underlined several factors that have been holding back organic transition inVietnam, including the common practice of using inorganic substances infarming, the weak cooperation between firms and farmers, the underdevelopmentof the domestic organic market, and the absence of a digital database foragriculture.
"Farmers are still quantity- rather than quality-focused. That's why theyuse inorganic fertilisers and pesticides intensively," said Toan.
He also said the country will push ahead with organic transition in the shortterm and aims to make the value delivered by each hectare of organic farming1.8 times higher that of non-organic farming by 2030.
Truong Tuyet Mai, deputy director of the National Institute of Nutrition,asserted that organic foods are better than non-organic foods in terms ofproteins, amino acids, and omega-3,6. On top of that, they are much lesscontaminated by pesticides, mycotoxins and cadmium, and are totally safe tohuman health.
She said Vietnamese consumers have begun to change their buying habit towardsorganic foods in recent years for their health benefits. A survey by VietnamReport Goup in 2019 showed that 51.5 per cent of consumers in HCM City and Hanoiprefer organic foods to other types of foods.
However, there are still some factors that discourage organic consumption,including prices and availability. Organic foods are normally higher in pricethan non-organic ones, making them less accessible to low-income consumers.
Kirsten Lund Jensen, leader of Organic Department, Danish Agriculture and FoodCouncil, revealed that Danish rules on organic farming are the same as those inother EU-member states.
She said EU regulations have an overall system of farm management and foodproduction that combines best environmental practices, high level ofbiodiversity, preservation of natural resources and application of high animalwelfare standards.
"Production methods should be in line with the preference of certainconsumers for products produced using natural substances and processes,"said Jensen.
Lise Walbom, CEO of Food Nation, said her company's Insight Report 2022 has atheme regarding health and sustainability.
The report shows that 25% of Vietnamese respondents associate organic withhealth and 90 per cent with sustainability. Additionally, 43% point to organicfoods as a tool to create healthy value chains and 44% point to organic farmingfor the same reason./.
VNA
