Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Organic agriculture production and consumption in Vietnam is facing many challenges from modest size, output and capital shortage toconsumer doubt over quality and origin.

Speaking atan online forum on organic agriculture on December 22, Deputy General Directorof NHONHO Certification Company Tran The Nhu Hiep said that organic agricultureproduction was in a process switching from unsafe agricultural production toprioritise productivity, output, increased land rotation and increased value ofareas for safe organic production.

Organicfarming usually featured low yield, natural farming, vulnerability to pests,and reduced soil rotation.

Hiep saidthat organic farms faced difficulties in getting quality certification.

Moreover, itrequired high production costs and a lot of time to switch over, Hiep said.

“To promotethe development of organic farming in the country, it is necessary to analyse,forecast and assess the potential, advantages, challenges and developmenttrends of organic agriculture,” he said.

“We need toidentify advantageous production areas and key products and markets forcommodity-oriented organic production.”

Localitiesshould implement national organic agriculture projects, while continuing toraise public awareness about organic food production and consumption, Hiep said.

"Thegoal of 'increasing productivity to ensure food security' should be given toarranging land for key organic agricultural production,” he said, adding thateach locality needed to develop its own organic agriculture scheme.

“It isnecessary to coordinate across sectors to manage quality, labelling and connectorganic product consumption, helping to increase the value of organic productsin the domestic and export markets," said Hiep.

Le Viet Binh,deputy chief of office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,said that the trend in green agriculture and organic agriculture wasinevitable. Until now, green and organic farming produce was mostly for exportby private enterprises or for daily use by farming households.

According tothe ministry, the total area of organic cultivation is currently just over23,000ha, including 11,000 for rice and corn, more than 2,000 for vegetables,2,800 for tea, 4,700 for organic fruit trees and over 2,155 of organic cashewtrees.

However, Vietnam'sorganic agricultural production is still spontaneous, small-scale, and needsstable and sustainable development. Currently, there is no set of specificregulations and standards for each type of product.

The nationalstandard TCVN 1104:2015 guiding the production, processing, labelling andmarketing of foods produced by organic methods, issued by the Ministry ofScience and Technology in 2015 has not come to life.

The standardwill soon be replaced by the National Standard TCVN 11041:2017, which wasdrafted with more detailed regulations, Binh said.

“Thecompletion of standards and regulations on organic products in harmony withinternational standards is essential for all involved parties. The awareness oforganic agricultural producers is not good enough for creating cleanagricultural produce that is trusted by consumers,” he said.

“So far, themajority of farmers do not want to convert to organic agriculture due tounproven income benefits and an uncommitted consumption market.”

Meanwhile,the production process requires a long time to improve the soil, and create asource of irrigation water to meet the quality requirements, so costs are high.

It isrecommended that the Government has regional planning with prioritised products,and a long-term land allocation mechanism with an appropriate planting term foreach item of produce.

Policies are neededto attract all economic sectors to participate in organic agriculture.Specifically, policies must support producers and market realities, not solelybe for managing business./.