While farmers in many areas that produce safe vegetables in the north have headaches as pests and diseases thrive because the weather is hotter than usual in October and November, the vegetable garden of farmers at Tien Le Agricultural Cooperative, Tien Yen Township (Hoai Duc , Hanoi) only hand-caught leafworms can still ensure product quality before being sold on the market.

According to Tien Le cooperative members, this success is due to the thorough application of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles in the field. Tien Le Cooperative is a long-term agricultural production unit in Tien Yen Municipality with about 700 members, of which 35 hectares of cultivated land have been certified according to VietGAP standards. At present, many companies have actively linked and created output for the cooperative’s agricultural products with an output of about 4-5 tons/day, such as:

As one of the safe vegetable production units adopting IPM early in Hanoi since 2007, Tien Le cooperative members adhere to IPM principles and methods such as regular visits to fields, recording of pest and disease states.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan, a member of Tien Le Cooperative, said farmers’ awareness and pest control methods changed significantly after the IPM training. The benefits of applying IPM are evident this year, when the weather in October and November is hotter than the average for many years, followed by a complex situation of pests and diseases, but thanks to the use of preventive measures. The cultivation of the farmers is kept stable and does not have to resort to pesticides.

“Implemented according to IPM class, we regularly visit the fields, take measures to prevent pests and diseases such as manual trapping, sticky traps, Passlite coatings, jumping insect barriers… In the case of too many pests, we also use pesticides according to IPM documents that from crop protection – and cultivation staff are managed according to the 4 rights principle,” Ms. Xuan shared.

From September to December 2022, Hoai Duc Plantation and Plant Protection Station 2022 conducted a field course on IPM for winter vegetables at Tien Le Cooperative. Contents from the method of ecological survey, understanding the physiology of vegetables in stages, pest control, and the role and effect of fertilizers, life cycle and food web, harmful rats have been passed on to every farmer.

Ms. Dang Thi Thu Thuy, Head of Hoai Duc Plantation and Crop Protection Station (Hanoi Cultivation and Crop Protection Sub-department) said about the process of implementing IPM courses at Tien Le Cooperative: At the end of the training course: The trainees raised their awareness of sharpened integrated pest management, reducing the use of pesticides in crops, creating safe products and protecting the environment, ecology and their own health.

“Although the trainees are old, they all apply their integrated pest management knowledge to actual production. Especially when it comes to the use of pesticides, people are very compliant when the disease rate reaches the guideline level,” Ms Thuy said.

In 2022, Hoai Duc Plantation and Plant Protection Station introduced many safe cultivation and pest control methods in Tien Le Cooperative, such as: B. Applying soybean meal and Passlite mulch. The results show that vegetables grow more slowly when fertilized with soybean meal compared to chemical fertilizers, but soybean meal provides sufficient and balanced nutrition for the plants: nutrient medium, trace elements, vitamins, mineral salts and amino acids should help the plant to achieve sustainable growth Leaves of vegetables are thick, not young and fat, which limits the damage from pests.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hao, Director of Tien Le Cooperative, shared that thanks to IPM, farmers not only reduce the amount of pesticides used and save production costs, but also promote the construction of a supply chain of clean agricultural products for consumers. Thanks to this, the products of the Tien Le cooperative always have stable production and bring in income of 600-700 million VND/ha.