Vietnam delegation studying non-toxic farming in Hualien

The 27-member delegation is headed by Nguyen Via Phuong, head of science and technology department in An Giang province, which is located in the Mekong Delta, in the southwestern part of the country, sharing a border with Cambodia to the northwest.

During a meeting with Tu Li-hua, director of the department of agricultural development of Hualien County, Nguyen noted that a ranking Vietnamese economic official visited Taiwan last year and was “very impressed” by Hualien’s promotion of non-toxic farming.

Although Vietnam started to promote safe agricultural practices five years ago, Nguyen said the country’s farms have only sporadically begun such farming and that the government has instructed all provinces to send officials to Taiwan to learn from Hualien.

Nguen said that 20 out of 64 provinces in Vietnam sent officials for the two-day visit this time.

The delegation visited an organic farm Monday during which delegation members asked the accompanying Tu about the farming method, distribution channel and government assistance.

The delegation also invited Tu to travel to Vietnam to help promote safe agriculture.

Tu noted that Hualien has promoted non-toxic agriculture for nearly five yeas, and its produce is exported to Japan, Macau and Canada, winning recognition internationally.

The Vietnamese delegation will also visit a meat processing plant, a non-toxic aquaculture zone of a fish farm, a non-toxic dairy product production zone of a ranch, a non-toxic tea production zone and a rice producing zone and milling plant.

Non-toxic farming in Taiwan was launched by Hualien County Magistrate Hsieh Shen-shan in 2004 to produce agricultural products that are grown organically without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or livestock feed additives.

The certification process is in accordance with legal standards to maintain soil productivity and control pests.

There are several differences between organic farming and non-toxic farming — regular tests are carried out by 15 qualified inspectors on the farms rather than having samples submitted by farmers themselves as is the case with organic farming testing.

In addition, all products must pass an examination 10 days before going to market. Non-toxic farming includes agricultural produce, fish and livestock, while organic farming focuses more on agricultural products.

Besides “green” agricultural methods, all products of non-toxic farming use environmentally friendly packaging materials such as polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable resin derived from cornstarch.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email