Vietnam uses 3 times more fertilizer than the world average.

On the morning of August 2, 2024, speaking at the 6th Congress (term 2024 - 2029) of the Vietnam Fertilizer Association, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Hoang Trung frankly shared: Over the past many years, the fertilizer industry has produced and imported 10-10.5 million tons of various types of fertilizers for the country's agriculture and has achieved significant progress in self-sufficiency in the production of urea fertilizers, phosphate fertilizers, NPK multi-nutrient fertilizers... and towards exporting many types of fertilizers.

However, Vietnam is using fertilizer at a higher rate than many other countries and three times higher than the world average.

“Up to now, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has always recommended that farmers follow the 5 rights when using fertilizers, including applying the right type of fertilizer; applying the right physiological needs of the plant; applying the right ecological needs; applying the right season and weather; and applying the right method. Most recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has just implemented the Project “Sustainable development of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice cultivation associated with green growth”. The project is expected to reduce the amount of rice seeds sown to less than 70kg/ha, reduce 30% of chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides, and reduce 20% of irrigation water compared to traditional farming,” said Deputy Minister Hoang Trung.

In addition to domestically produced fertilizers, Vietnam also imports a lot of fertilizers from abroad. The amount of fertilizers imported to Vietnam in the first 6 months of 2024 reached over 2.58 million tons, worth 838.34 million USD. Of which, the most was from the Chinese market: Over 1.03 million tons, worth nearly 295.98 million USD, accounting for 40% of the total volume and 35.3% of the total fertilizer import turnover of the country.

Next was imports from Russia with a total volume of fertilizer reaching 362,326 tons, worth 164.11 million USD.

Ranked third is the Southeast Asian market with 309,775 tons, worth 95.12 million USD.

Striving to become a country with a high rate of organic fertilizer use

According to FAO, fertilizers play an important role because they contribute 30-60% of the input value of agricultural materials and increase crop productivity by 40-50%.

Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has determined that the production and use of organic fertilizers is a long-term solution based on the application of modern scientific and technological advances combined with traditional experience, effectively exploiting the potential and advantages of available domestic organic raw materials to partially replace inorganic fertilizers, reduce dependence on imported fertilizers, and serve sustainable agricultural development.

In order to build a sustainable, responsible, circular and green growth agriculture, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has approved the Project on developing the production and use of organic fertilizers until 2030, with a vision to 2050, with the goal of increasing the rate of organic fertilizer use to at least 30% by 2030.

By 2050, Vietnam strives to become a country with a high rate of organic fertilizer use in the region, with 50% of the cultivated area using organic fertilizer; 80% of provinces and cities will build a model of using organic fertilizer associated with the value chain for key products and specialties with local advantages; 100% of available raw materials from cultivation, livestock, aquaculture, household waste, etc. will be used as organic fertilizer in both household and industrial production.

Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is coordinating with the US Department of Agriculture to implement the 4-right project in rice nutrient management, including the requirement to use the right type, right ratio, right time and right location.