Environment is crucial for bringing agro-products into the global value chain

The leading unit in agricultural environment monitoring

Reporting to the delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on the morning of May 26, Dr. Mai Van Trinh, Director of the Institute for Agricultural Environment (IAE), said, “Established in 2008, the institute can be considered the ‘youngest child’ in the common house of the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS). As of April 2023, the Institute has 109 staff members, including 1 Assoc. PhD, 15 PhDs and 56 Masters”.

The institute’s key tasks include conducting scientific research and proposing solutions to overcome pollution and degradation of the agricultural and rural environment; monitoring and analyzing the quality of the agricultural and rural environment; participating in providing public services for national supervision of food quality and safety.

The Institute for Agricultural Environment is also the focal point that joins the national environmental monitoring network, including one center and two monitoring stations located in all three regions. Every year, the institute conducts regular monitoring at 63 soil monitoring points across the country.

IAE provides regular data on soil environment quality to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in the preparation of the annual "National State of the Environment Report" as well as data to serve the work of agroproduction directing of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the localities.

Difficulties in financial autonomy

Being a research institute with a wide spectrum of activities, the Institute of Agricultural Environment has not received any scientific topics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development since 2010.

Elaborating on this matter, Dr. Ha Manh Thang, Head of the Department of Environmental Chemistry, said that researchers are facing many difficulties in ensuring income. Since operating under an autonomous mechanism, the state budget is currently only guaranteeing 7 months' salary for the Institute's staff. In the remaining 5 months, the IAE leaders along with other officials and employees are on their own.

Due to the peculiarity that the institute was formed by merging many units, the mission of the Institute for Agricultural Environment is entangled with many other research units in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development such as the Institute of Plant Protection and the Soil and Fertilizers Institute.

"Over time, the burden of putting food on the table weighs heavily on our research staff, affecting everyone's enthusiasm for dedication. In addition, the ability to contact channels and programs of ministries, departments, industries and localities remains a challenge for us," said Mr. Thang.

Head of Environmental Biology Department Dr. Luong Huu Thanh stated the fact. In addition to struggling to make a living, the biggest problem is that IAE has not been invested or encouraged in terms of basic research with application purposes. The institute is hardly able to solve the urgent and topical issues posed by society.

Expand research space

Listening to opinions from the Institute for Agricultural Environment, Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Environment Nguyen Giang Thu said that the agricultural sector always does its best to invest in research projects on the environment. In 2022, the amount of funding given to projects in this field is VND 10 billion. To increase revenue for research activities, Ms. Thu suggested IAE leaders focus more on strengths such as organic agriculture, carbon credits, and at the same time strengthen cooperation with localities.

Upon colluding the meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien laid out the orientation: "Agriculture without the environment would make it very difficult for our agro-products to enter the global value chain, especially now that many export markets have regulated carbon credits for product".

As an environmental research unit operating in the agricultural sector, the Institute for Agricultural Environment will have to face competition with specialized institutes when it comes to each specific field such as fisheries, livestock, and irrigation. Therefore, the MARD leader suggested that the institute propose or conduct research on interdisciplinary issues, solve the overarching tasks based on the new strategies and projects promulgated by the MARD.

Regarding IAE’s concerns related to operating costs, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien advised the institute to first improve its capacity by completing documents and diversifying services to link with businesses. Another plausible idea is to transfer the technologies that have created successful models to localities.

The Deputy Minister assigned the Department of Science, Technology and Environment to focus on orienting the work and tasks for each division and center of the Institute for Agricultural Environment, helping the institute's staff work with peace of mind. At the same time, he directed units under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to attach environmental indicators to agroproduction. This is important content to enhance the value of agro-products, helping Vietnamese products reach further into the world market.