High risk of degeneration

At the recent project kick-off meeting “Support for the development of strategies and action plans on national soil health”, Mr. Nguyen Van Bo, representative of Vietnam Soil Science Association, mentioned the current situation of health situation in Vietnam. Accordingly, there are three factors that lead to the problem of soil health appearing to be “ignored” and not receiving the attention commensurate with the value it brings to agriculture.

First, Mr. Ministry said society still looks down on land and sees it as an available resource for exploitation. Meanwhile, the recently introduced concepts of land degradation and desertification have not been recognized by the community. Second, there is still no system to monitor and monitor land use and management issues, while the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) says that 95% of food sources are obtained from the soil either directly or indirectly. Also, there is still no political system related to sustainable land use.

“The land is being exploited, there are areas where up to 5-7 crops are planted in two years, mainly for nearly 1 million hectares of rice planted three times a year in connection with salt collapse and water shortage upstream. Hundreds of thousands of acres of coffee in the central highlands need to be replanted, tens of thousands of acres of pepper are dead. All of these problems are caused by soil diseases, generally caused by unsustainable farming practices. Therefore, management of land resources to ensure soil health needs to be integrated,” said Dr.

Assessing the overall soil health situation in Vietnam, Mr. Vu Manh Quyet, representative of the Institute of Soil and Agrochemistry, cited data from studies showing that agricultural land in Vietnam is quite limited.

The total area of ​​agricultural land is just over 11.5 million hectares (equivalent to 0.11 hectares/person), serving nearly 17 million households, one of the lowest in the world. Farmland is mainly concentrated on hillsides – a relatively major impediment to soil quality and fertility in Vietnam, leading to extreme erosion. In many areas, up to 100-300 tons of soil are lost annually to erosion, leading to nutrient depletion and taking hundreds to thousands of years to form such a layer.

Mr Quyet said that according to statistics from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, 4% of Vietnam’s land area is severely degraded, 7% shows signs of degradation and 20.4% is at risk of degradation. The main causes are the impact of desertification, drought, saltwater incursions in the Mekong Delta, improper land use and lack of measures to protect soil and water resources in heavily eroded areas.

Agricultural land in Vietnam is said to be nutrient-poor, with few organic ingredients. In some areas, flooding affects soil quality, and there is a phenomenon of “poisoning” the soil into saline and alkaline soil. In many areas, the gradient is high, so the soil layer is thin, the mechanical composition is light, and the soil nutrient factors such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are low, which hinders plant growth. Up to 60% of the land in Vietnam lacks potassium and 70% lacks phosphorus. In addition, soil health is also influenced by environmental factors such as an increased land use coefficient, intensive agriculture or the uncontrolled use of fertilizers and pesticides.

Therefore, given the problems encountered, there is a need to develop a strategy and action plan to improve management and improve soil health.

The puzzle piece for the overall picture of a sustainable agricultural strategy

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, deputy director of the Plant Protection Institute, cited a recent investigation by the unit showing that pests in soil are very common, while beneficial soil components and microorganisms are very few. The fact that many organisms are harmful, farmers cannot control and prevent, which leads to an increase in the dose of drugs used, resulting in residues of pesticide residues in the soil.

“The results of the institute’s research on the use of pesticides on a crop show that at least over 50% of people use 8-10 sprays/plant,” Ms. Ngoc explained the situation.

Accordingly, Ms Ngoc said that for soil health, there should also be more research on the interaction between the effects of pesticide and fertilizer use on soil structure, physical, chemical and biological properties in the soil. In addition, indicators for assessing soil health at different levels, nationally and regionally, are clearly required.

Many policies related to land and land have been issued, such as Land Law 2013, Cultivation Law 2018, Environmental Protection Law 2020, Government Decision No. 18-NQ/TW on Land Use Management. ..

However, a representative from the Institute of Soil and Agriculture said there are no specific guidelines and documents directly related to soil health. “We need to create policies, strategies and action plans and raise awareness of land issues throughout the community,” Quyet said.

Pierre Ferrand, Agriculture Officer, Technical Advisor, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, said that a new soil health management system will help improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products in the world market.international school. The “Soil Health – Plant Health – Human Health” approach is the appropriate and comprehensive approach to nutrient cycling, food quality and ecosystem health security.

“Soil health as an integral part of Vietnam’s strategy for sustainable agricultural development and transformation of the agricultural system. This piece of the puzzle must go hand in hand with other factors such as cultivation, crop protection, agricultural advice, training…” recommended Mr. Ferrand.

Vietnam is one of 13 member countries participating in the development of the Asian Land Atlas or Asia Land Map and the National Soil Information System project sponsored by the Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative Asia (RDA-AFACI). In addition to developing maps to raise awareness of the importance of land, the project also aims to collect land tenure maps using available data.

Soil data collected over the years in Vietnam does not reflect the state of soil health. This is one of the major constraints on planning and implementing international commitments.