Organic agriculture development - Hanois experience

According to Mr. Ta Van Tuong, Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Hanoi city is among the earliest ones to start organic agriculture.

Hanoi has followed the path of organic agriculture production at a very early stage (since 2008). Photo: TV.

Hanoi has been following the path of organic agriculture production since 2008, and by 2013 temporal standards and procedures concerning organic agriculture production have been issued by the city’s agriculture sector. Hanoi's organic agriculture development has especially taken another remarkable step when Decree No. 109 regarding Standards on Organic Agriculture was issued in 2018.

Mr. Ta Van Tuong, Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, shared his view based on Hanoi’s experience of organic agriculture development:

Firstly, the subject - the cultivator, who has conceived a passion for the agricultural industry and wants to follow the organic direction - should start from small establishments. Organic agriculture is a long process. It requires passion, enthusiasm, and from which comes the spread.

Secondly, in order for organic agriculture to develop, the organization needs to be in accordance with the value chain (i.e. trademark certification, trademark registration and marketing) so that organic agriculture products can bring out their true value and make a difference from conventional products of the same type.

However, according to Mr. Ta Van Tuong, there are still cases of organic agriculture development in a sense of “following the movement”. "Movement" here has two meanings. One is the movement of simply following the surface trend instead of going in-depth in the process. The product created does not hold the true value of organic agriculture.

For example, many product labels put the word “organic” into their names, but in reality not all brands or products are truly organic or certified as “organic agriculture”, so sooner or later they will be rejected by the market.

“It would have been a thing to highly appreciate, encourage and commend if the movement is pursued in a positive direction, with people doing ’real’ organic agriculture on a fully legal basis, producers strictly following the production process and bringing out great products, promoting the movement and widespreading it in the community once there is a certain model, making the movement stronger and better," said Mr. Tuong.

When comparing organic husbandry and organic cultivation, Mr. Tuong assesses that the development of organic cultivation seems to be more favorable. But putting these two factors on the same scale, Hanoi chooses the option of evenly developing both.

Organic cultivation should be considered as an important input for organic husbandry and vice versa. Most of the successful organic models in the world have to develop husbandry and cultivation simultaneously.

Planning plays an important role in the efficiency and sustainability of organic agriculture development.

It is necessary to review which areas are really favorable for the development of organic agriculture and develop certification organizations with sufficient analytical and certification capability to evaluate organic standards, ensuring transparency.

Vietnam's organic products will certainly be recognized as equal to those in world-leading countries if the mentioned activities are further realized. Exports will receive more favor, and organic agriculture will prosper.