Reducing input costs for agricultural production

​Vinh Tan Commune’s farmers, Vinh Cuu District make organic fertilizers themselves to fertilize crops. Photo by Phan Anh

Farmers, who save themselves, are trying to change the production process in the direction of saving raw materials, such as reducing the amount of seeds and fertilizers to reduce costs, or making use of agricultural waste and organic waste to make medium-sized fertilizers and prevent environmental pollution. The advantage of this shift not only helps reduce production costs but also produces clean agricultural products, contributing to improving the quality and value of agricultural products. This shift is reflected in the statistics of the General Department of Customs, in the first 2 months of 2022, the country's imported fertilizer amount reached over 594.5 thousand tons, deducted 3.2% in volume compared to the same period of last year.

Faced with the high price of fertilizer in both the world and domestic, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has issued Directive No. 653 on using fertilizers in economical, balanced and effective ways. The Directive clearly states that the overuse of inorganic fertilizers and the wasteful use of fertilizers still occur in most localities, increasing production costs, reducing the competitiveness of agricultural products, polluting the environment and causing environmental pollution, and imbalance in agricultural ecosystems. Mr. Le Minh Hoan, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development suggested that the People's Committees and cities under the central government direct the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to organize training, communicating, and guide people to use fertilizers in a balanced and effective manner like quickly apply technical advances such as 3 decrease 3 increase, 1 must-to-do 5 decrease, intensive rice cultivation system, sowing and avoiding planthoppers, application of ecological technology, integrated pest management model, organic agricultural production model, production linkage model. Having increased the production, used organic fertilizers, replaced inorganic fertilizers with organic fertilizers in suitably proportions to the conditions of local crop production. Directing specialized agencies and related units to train and guide farmers to apply and replicate technical advances, solutions and models of effective fertilizer use, suitable to specific local conditions direction.

The appropriate authorities strengthen the management, inspection, examination and supervision of the fertilizer market and local trading establishments; especially strictly handle cases of violations on production and trading of fake and poor quality fertilizers, or having not been recognized for circulation, fraudulent acts in labeling, seeking profit by pushing fertilizer prices up. Continuing to review and propose mechanisms, policies and solutions to support and encourage research and application of advanced technologies in fertilizer production, prioritizing environmentally friendly technologies and reusing by-products in cultivation, animal husbandry, aquaculture, domestic waste and promote the production and use of organic fertilizers.

In addition, the Government has had a policy to reduce import taxes on many commodities in order to reduce input costs for domestic production, including some raw materials in the agricultural sector. The Ministry of Industry and Trade cooperates with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in removing all difficulties in exporting agricultural products to China as well as paying attention to promoting trade promotion activities, simplifying procedures and facilitating the goods circulation in order to promote the export of agricultural products to the markets of other countries.

Phan Anh