In recent years, organic agricultural production has been much talked about and promoted at conferences, seminars and in the mass media. However, it is worrying to understand what organic farming is and decide which production option is more profitable under the current production conditions.

Distinguish between organic farming and safe farming

Organic farming is one of the farming methods that produces clean and safe products with the outstanding benefit of environmental friendliness.

There are opinions that organic agricultural production simply does not use chemicals (chemical fertilizers, pesticides, biological stimulants …) in agricultural production for safe products. This understanding is not comprehensive because it has not understood the conditions for organic agricultural production, except the factor of not using chemicals.

At the same time, there is confusion between organic agricultural production methods and safe agricultural production methods. Because in safe agricultural production processes, chemicals (chemical fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) are allowed to continue to be used in appropriate doses within the allowable standard without any impact on the environment.

The current food hygiene and safety situation is in an alarming state and is a major challenge for the country. To solve this problem, the government is pursuing a policy of promoting safe agricultural production. However, there are also opinions and views that see organic farming almost as a lifeline to solve food safety problems, thus dictating an unreasonable policy to promote organic farming.

In this case, there may be confusion between organic agriculture and safe agricultural production, not knowing that organic agricultural production must ensure that very strict conditions such as arable land without heavy metals or metals below the permissible threshold; Farmland that has not been treated with chemical fertilizers. If chemical fertilizers have been applied, 3 years must be a transition period, ie 3 consecutive years must not be applied with chemical fertilizers and other chemicals such as pesticides, biological stimulants, etc. growth, preservatives …

Organic farmland must be isolated from sources of polluted water, polluted water, especially contamination from the use of pesticides and other sources of polluted water. Newly manufactured products are referred to as organic products.

Which production method should I choose?

Production practices in the world and in the country have shown that the productivity of organic farming plants has decreased by more than 30%, this has a scientific basis for the nutritional physiology of plants. Because each plant species has different nutritional needs in terms of the amount and ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (N, P, K) components.

For example: for 1 ton of rice, rice plants take away about 18 kg of N, 3-4 kg of phosphorus (P2O5) and 18-20 kg of potassium (K20) from the soil and fertilizer. Using sugar cane to achieve a yield of 60 tons/ha, sugar cane extracts 96 kg of N, 37 kg of phosphorus (P205) and 115 kg of potassium (K20) from the soil and fertilizer…

Try to calculate the content of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (N, P, K) in 1 ton of organic fertilizer, and then add the content of N, P, K per ton of plant products to compare a very large deficiency look at the nutrient requirements of the plant. If it is not possible to fertilize an insufficient amount of N, P, K with organic fertilizers, because due to the low content of N, P and K in organic fertilizers, and the decomposition of organic matter is needed very slowly, so that it is not possible to meet the demand for nutrient volume according to the needs of the plants. On the other hand, the ratio of N, P, K in organic fertilizer may not correspond to the ratio of N, P, K that plants need. This is the main reason for the organic farming production method to reduce productivity by more than 30%.

Another problem is that due to such a decrease in crop yield and other increases in costs, the cost of organic products increases by about 2-3 times, resulting in an increase in sales prices by 3-4 times or more compared to similar ones products are led by the free market.

When it comes to the development of organic farming, the question arises whether the development of organic farming will be viable now and in the long term in the conditions of a narrow country with a large population and an average annual population growth of about 1.05% • Can you ensure food security? From there we choose a cultivation method with high yield and no impact on the environment (safe agricultural production, according to GAP standards …) or choose an organic farming method with a crop yield that decreases by 30% or more. . In fact, organic agricultural production is only one segment of safe agricultural production. Therefore, according to the author of this article, we should not attach too much importance to the development of organic farming and cannot attach importance to organic farming in the national food security strategy.

In particular, it should be noted that our country, as a developing country, the per capita income level is still low compared to some countries in the ASEAN region and lags far behind the developed countries.

At present, safe agricultural production methods have been adopted from places across the country. The products produced have a slightly higher selling price, but with the current standard of living of the vast majority of people, our people are acceptable. Meanwhile, products from organic farming with a selling price 3-4 times higher than the market price will certainly not be suitable for most consumers today, but only for a small number of people who only have a high income.

How to approach organic farming?

Organic farming is a farming method that produces safe and environmentally friendly products. However, this cultivation method is only a fraction of high-quality agriculture. Therefore, we should not necessarily only consider organic farm products to be safe and clean. However, this does not mean that we do not support or promote the policy of organic farming development. Therefore, I think that today there should be a suitable approach in the development of organic farming:

One: In modern times, organic farming should only be operated according to instructions or contracts with foreign or domestic companies, to avoid post-movement production, according to the general propaganda, until the product is organic, produce high prices, expensive in the market sell at prices no one will buy, causing harm to farmers.

In particular, for all types of medicinal plants, production using the organic farming method is mandatory.

Two: Organic agricultural production areas in all localities, if any, must be planned separately so as not to be affected by the use of dirty water, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, etc. between different production modes.

Father: Those involved in the production of organic agricultural products must be fully trained in the production process of organic agricultural products and have a reputable supervisory authority in the production process in order to obtain organic agricultural product certificates.