Many fertiliser companies are steadily increasing production of organic fertilisers since they expect demand to rise sharply over the coming years.

The use of organic fertilisers is on the rise as farmers see improvements in the soil, crops and environment when they dispense with chemicals, they said.

Phan Van Tam, marketing director of Binh Dien Fertilizer Joint Stock Company, told Nguoi Lao Dong (The Labourer) newspaper that his company has been supplying organic fertilisers to the market for three or four years, now produces nearly 20,000 tonnes a year and plans to increase production.

They are produced only at two subsidiaries, Binh Dien - Mekong and Binh Dien - Lam Dong, and so the output is still modest, he said.

Another, Binh Dien Quang Tri JSC, has got a licence and would start producing soon, he said.

In the near future the parent company and Binh Dien Ninh Binh Company would also start production, and the output would increase significantly, he said.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Plant Protection Department has collaborated with major companies such as Loc Troi Group JSC, Con Co Vang Hi-Tech, Que Lam, Phuc Thinh, GNC, Hiep Thanh, and Green Powers to develop organic fertilisers.

Loc Troi, which entered the organic fertiliser market in 2009 with only one product, now has a total of eight, and supplies to the market two million litres and 10,000 tonnes of organic fertilisers annually.

Loc Troi and the department recently signed a deal to enhance production and usage of the fertilisers.

Many companies have shifted to organic products to meet the demand for safe agricultural produce.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as of December 2017 the country had only 713 organic fertiliser products, accounting for 5 per cent of total fertiliser output. In April 2019 they had increased to 2,312 and 11.1 per cent.

But the output was still very modest at just 1 million tonnes last year out of 11 million tonnes of fertilisers overall.

The country is striving to increase that to three million tonnes by next year.

Licences have already been issued to produce 3.36 million tonnes a year.

Meanwhile, imports have been skyrocketing in recent years from Japan, the EU, China, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos.

The ministry said Viet Nam has great potential in organic fertiliser production since annually 60-70 million tonnes of agricultural by-products and 20 million of seafood by-products are produced.

The by-products can be used as raw materials for making organic fertilisers, but they have not been properly exploited for a long time, it said.

This would also help reduce pollution and improve soil fertility and farm produce quality, it added. — VNS