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Vietnam – How to identify and control crop diseasesTraining on Pest Control
In Cao Bang province, many farmers are unable to identify the symptoms when their crops such as rice, tobacco or maize show signs of diseases. Usually, it results in an inappropriate use of pesticides in terms of volume, type, time of spraying, etc. A considerable number of fields are badly affected and even destroyed by such misuse of pesticides, even more so since most of the pesticides are cheap imports from China, often unbranded and without comprehensible usage instructions. It goes without saying that such behaviour directly impacts the quality of the agriculture products, followed by a decreasing interest of consumers for locally-produced agricultural products. Via an information campaign, the provincial level requested producers to make better use of pesticides but the lack of skills to recognise the symptoms of crop diseases and using pesticides incorrectly is a real issue amongst farmers.
Therefore, trainings on techniques of identification and pest control measures provided by the Crop and Plant Protection Division (CPPD) supported by project VIE/036 were an efficient way to improve farmers’ skills in that respect.
The target beneficiary of these trainings were 125 farmers within Duc Xuan and Le Lai communes, in Thach An district, distributed among 5 villages, each class attended by 25 farmers.
Moreover, the trainings were an opportunity for the CPPD to develop their coaching approach while working with farmers in the fields. Also, those trainings were an opportunity for farmers to enjoy services provided by CPPD directly at their commune and to strengthen their confidence in proactively seeking technical support at CPPD offices when they are faced with any crop or plant issues.
Those trainings are the first batch of a series of activities in which CPPD will introduce an effective way to spray pesticides and at the same time to have a better understanding of the local situation and characteristics of farmers spraying pesticides in their field.
For seeking a suitable and relevant method to reduce the use of unbranded chemicals (mostly coming from China) while improving control over sales and purchases of Chinese pesticides, CPPD has collaborated with the Cao Bang Department of Police to undertake a study to assess the circulation and movement of unbranded chemicals. 
The CPPD also wishes to elaborate, propose and help farmers to apply at least 4 kinds of pesticide solutions that are responsive to the local characteristics and needs. At the same time CPPD will build its capacity to conduct studies on agricultural cultivating techniques for enriching a shared public knowledge library on agriculture practice for universal accessibility and inheritance.
VIE/036 will certainly continue to provide support to CPPD and other agricultural departments to ultimately improve the agricultural production in the most sustainable manner.
