Mrs. Embroidery held a bottle of herbicide containing paraquat, a chemical that was banned from use: “I don’t need to know what kind of herb is okay.”
The bottle of Ms. Embroider is VND 25,000, with misspelled words and words written, “Herbicide does not complete, “on the ingredient label paraquat dichloride 210g / l, the extremely toxic active ingredient that has been banned from trade and use in agriculture since Vietnam by 2017.
One of the herbicides bottles that Mrs. Embroider used, on the label containing Paraquat, an extremely toxic active ingredient, were banned in Vietnam. Photo: Thanh Hue.
Farmers in Tay Tuu and Bac Tu Liem have about half a northern pole of lettuce. She and her husband previously rented 8 sao in the next commune to plant flowers. But in the winter of 2015, Mr. Huu was spraying flowers with gerbera when he fell into the field, “seeing the doctor tell his family money”. Since then his hands and feet have always trembled, and he went to the neurology department of Bach Mai Hospital several times a month. Mrs. Embroider returned 8 sao of rented field because there were no more people spraying pesticides.
“Growing roses to grow chrysanthemums, sometimes without pumping, we lose our food,” Mrs. Embroidery concluded. She went back to grow vegetables. But still unable to leave the bottles of plant protection drugs that she “did not know what kind”, only distinguish through price and color.
One morning at the end of May 2020, Mrs. Embroider wrapped two vials of “25 thousand herbicide” and a “65 thousand herbicide” vial in a nylon bag with two bottles of drinking water, and carried a spray bottle of copper. Her eldest daughter had 2 hectares of land to grow lily, gave her mother 3 bottles of medicine and told her: “This super burning grass is versatile, killing anything will kill it.”
Poison market
Paraquat is a representative of the Chinese-style standard: the country banned the use of paraquat completely domestically since 2012, but still allows production for export. Currently, they provide 80% of the worldwide demand for paraquat.
Paraquat exposure has been studied in many countries, including the US Institute of Health, confirming its association with Parkinson’s disease. When taken directly, it is a famous poison. In previous decades, from Japan to Vietnam, drinking paraquat was a common suicide. South Korea even reported a 10% suicide rate decrease after it banned paraquat in 2011.
For decades, Vietnamese farmers have relied on this famous herbicide to maintain their livelihood. Vietnam removed the paraquat from the list of pesticides allowed to be used in 2017. But people like Ms. Embroidery did not know this new ban: she had never cared what the “active ingredient” inside the bottle was. – that differentiates them by their ability to kill weeds.
Mrs. Embroidered soil, except for grass before planting a new lettuce crop. Photo: Thanh Hue.
The embroidery bottle of Mrs. Embroidery is made in China, packaged and named “brand” by a company in Long An and it is not difficult to find on one of the biggest e-commerce websites in Vietnam, the section ” Gardening tools ”. Going back to the manufacturers’ information in China, it is easy to see proud introductions about “PARAQUAT production. [viết hoa] by new technology, with an annual output of 3000 cubic meters ”(introducing Guangzhou Hesenta Chemical Company).
On the body of the “herbicide of 25,000”, write the instructions for use “Grass less than 20 cm: mix 125 ml / bottle of 20- 25 liters of water, spray 2 bottles for 1,000 m2”. With 1.7 sao, equivalent to 600 m2, in theory she only needs to mix 1 bottle, spray 1 bottle. But to “make sure” the grass did not grow like a neighbor’s field, she sprayed all three bottles.
At one time, the cooperative gave her a few packets of bio-herbicide. “I don’t know if it’s good for my health, but” not as sensitive “as the one I’m using,” she concluded. The packages of medicine given are still lying on the kitchen floor after five crops of vegetables. Mrs. Embroidery has no intention of reusing.
Nearly 2,000 km from Tay Tuu, a 50-year-old farmer, Phan Bien stands in the middle of a fragrant vegetable field on the islet along the Hau River. Taste the dew condensation on the leaves see salty due to salt fog, he installed a water pump throughout the field. Two 2,000 square meters of land he hired from Cham people for 5 million per year, in Khanh Hoa commune, (Chau Phu district), land specialized in vegetable and fruit cultivation of An Giang.
He pulled from a hut a wall covered with bottles, pesticide packages, fertilizer, and then took two dishes. An old vial called a “buffalo head”, on the label containing Paraquat, a banned substance similar to the bottle she used. Old man bought a medicine bottle costing VND 100,000 and a half liter. Blue bottle with the red cap, Mr. Bien remembered the name and label containing glyphosate, also on the list of banned active ingredients.
He believed that if the vegetables on the field were to be measured at any rate, they would be said to be poisoned by spraying and using too much chemicals. ”If we were sick with any disease, if we took it out to the pharmacy, people would ask. will just give, but I do not know what medicine, spray a lot of “farmers need, agents will give the strongest, effective next time to buy. As for the banned drugs, agents only sell to acquaintances. Farmers like Mr. Bien did not care much about the brand name bottle. They call it popular names, “lot glove”, “tiger”, growth drug “eggplant”.
Leafy vegetables have a life cycle of one month and herbs one and a half months. But Mr. Bien coal, leafy vegetables cost “dirt”, many pests and diseases. Scallions are the hardest to grow, specializing in green worms, “swallowed eyes”, easy to spot, and perforated.
From planting to spitting about 40-50 days, Mr. Bien must spray on or under ten times, ie every 4 days. Last week, in only seven days, he had to carry a spray bottle to the field three times. He said, if you want to know if the drug is poisonous or strong, you just need to dip your finger on the medicine and taste it, the more salty the drug will be.
The bottle that Mr. Bien used on the label had the active ingredient banned from paraquat. Photo: Thu Ngan.
“Do not use to die”
Sometimes, Mr. Bien takes part in a local training course. In the classroom, people recommend using biological medicine. “But the price is high, the effect is slow, the worms eat all the leaves to die,” he shook his head.
Ms. Nga, his wife and the laborers sat and cut vegetables and delivered them to traders. Winning scallions, he earned 8 million, 5 million mustard greens. Unfortunately, half of the time, sometimes with capital loss, take one to compensate for the other to buy seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, continue the rotation as vegetables, year after year.
Ten years of growing vegetables on Khanh Hoa islet, along the southern bank of Hau river, Mr. Bien could no longer see the silhouette of orange wings, muom muong and bullfrog. He believed that such a spray would kill the insects, but the natural enemies of the worm would not survive. “The soil here is also completely polluted, because of the constant use of plant protection drugs,” the farmer acknowledged himself.
Three days after spraying the last potion, Mr. Bien cut the vegetables and sold them to traders. Where they exported he did not know, never cared. Each month, two fields produce about 5 tons of vegetables. Vegetables from Mr. Bien’s field will follow the driver to Chau Long market and come to many families’ rice trays in Chau Doc City. Partly down to Can Tho or to Cambodia. More than half of the rest goes to Saigon, to Ba Chieu market, Binh Thanh district.
In Ho Chi Minh City, the amount of vegetables grown in Cu Chi, Hoc Mon and District 12 districts only meets about 20-40% of the consumption of 9 million city residents. The rest must be imported from other provinces, such as Lam Dong, An Giang …
Overview of agricultural pollution in Vietnam by the World Bank in 2017, about 20% of farmers who are using pesticides violate current regulations and pesticides. Illegal import, ban or even counterfeiting.
The survey also showed another problem in the farmer’s habit, when the packaging of chemical drugs after use is discharged on the spot, along with the remaining chemicals, directly into the field, canal. creeks and streams. In 2013, only 17% of the farmers surveyed said they had collected drug packages for burial or recycling.
Mr. Huynh Tan Dat, Head of Plant Protection Medicine Division, Plant Protection Department stated that “it is very difficult for people to store banned substances in their home and use them illegally because they were fish assets. multiply. Regarding the law, it is not allowed to sell on the market, if there is still the situation of using banned drugs, it is entirely due to the people’s awareness. ”
Ms. Luu Thi Hang, Head of Legal Inspection Department, Hanoi Plant Protection and Plant Protection Department said: “Imposing users is only the tip, to solve the root of the problem of smuggled plant protection drugs must depend on many authorities and especially the awareness of the people “.
World Bank observers noted that one of the problems with pesticide management is that small farmers themselves “sometimes lack the financial capacity, physical space, or skills and expertise to apply certain technologies or practices, and meet certain standards. ”
The organization recommends that the Vietnamese government use an additional “carrot” beside the stick. That may be economic incentives, new farming methods that reduce costs, reduce pollution but not reduce productivity – something that people like Mr. Bien or Mrs. Embroider don’t know, or can’t understand.
In a makeshift hut next to the vegetable garden, Mr. Bien rocked the hammock to rest. The feet of the man used to stick with the big field, alum full of alum. His face was dark and dull. Ten years, Mr. Bien has become familiar with the smell of fertilizers, and the insecticide still has headache, dizziness after spraying.
*The character name was changed.
According to VnExpress.net
