Pesticide management in agricultural activities in the whole of Vietnam is regulated by the Plant Protection Department (PPD). This organization, established in 1961, is a State management section that is officially administrated from the Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) (the past Ministry of Agriculture and Food Technology). In order to regulate pesticide management, many regulations on plant protection products and their handling are enacted and employed in the entire of country as summarized briefly in the following.
One of the earliest macro-policies regarding pesticide management is Decree No.32 of 1984. The Decree merely mentioned the responsibility of relevant state
departments such as MARD, the Ministry of Health (MOH), and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) regarding pesticide import, production, distribution and use. All pesticides and other agricultural inputs as well as outputs were centrally managed by the MARD (Hoi et al., 2008).
Since 1986, a list of pesticide compounds was issued comprising the compounds legally used in Vietnam, and the list is updated by the MARD annually. In 1991, a legal list of 77 active ingredients was permitted for import, production, distribution and use in Vietnam, and this list is an important key for state pesticide management at the local level (Vien and Hoi, 2009). According to the list, pesticides were categorized into three groups: permitted pesticides, pesticides permitted with restricted use and banned pesticides.
The first comprehensive legal document for plant protection and quarantine including pesticide management was promulgated by the National Assembly in 1993, Decree No.92. The Decree aimed to improve state management on enhancing the effectiveness of resource management, introducing to a better production and protecting public health and the environment. In term of agricultural chemicals, this Decree regulated all activities relating to import, export, production, formulation, distribution and use are monitored and inspected by a plant protection system from central to district level. The Plant Protection Department of the MARD keeps a role as the key administrative authority in pesticide policy. The MARD determined and announced a list of pesticides permitted, restricted and banned for use as well as promulgated a testing process of the list periodically. Transport and use of pesticides which are not belonging to the regulated list are strictly prohibited. The same circumstance is for producing and selling fake, expired pesticides, pesticides of unknown origin, without trade mark or inappropriate pesticides regarding the quality to register the trade names or patents. In order to promote plant protection activities, the Decree encouraged all organizations or individuals which obtained a complete requirement according to the regulation on plant protection and quarantine by granting a license. They are allowed in pesticide production, import, export and distribution activities. Furthermore, the Decree mentioned to regulations regarding the security of human health, animals and the environments during the production, storage and transportation process of pesticides.
In 1995, the detailed regulations on plant protection as well as pesticides were published by MARD. In order to tighten registration, import, production, distribution and use of restricted pesticides, MARD stipulated that no new registration of these category pesticides was permitted (Hoi et al., 2008). In addition, most of the Plant Protection Sub-Departments were no longer responsibile for pesticide sales and distribution since 1995 (Dung and Dung, 2003). In order to encourage pest management and limited pesticide misuse, production both domestic and foreign agreed to invest in integrated pest prevention and control as well as to produce, formulate, distribute and sell plant protection chemicals in Vietnam. All these activities were managed by the Plant Protection Sub-Department at the provincial level. The MARD then recommended that companies which were established from either joint ventures or 100% foreign investment capitals were no longer issued a license for building pesticide producing factories.
When a new pesticide is imported or formulated in Vietnam, it has to obtain legal registration as stipulated by the MARD. A part of registration procedure involves a field trial stage which aims to determine pesticide efficacy as well as estimate the effects of pesticides on target plants, human health, animals and the environments. The field trial has to be conducted by two State Plant Protection Centers in the north and the south of Vietnam. However, the field trial is only applied for chemical pesticides. Biological pesticides do not follow this registration procedure, and they were prioritized in research, production, distribution and use through the regulations by MARD in 2002 (Hoi et al., 2008). Consequently, a fast and uncontrolled development of biological pesticides happened so that field trial became a necessary step in its registration procedure recently.
Pesticides are required to be properly used according to guidance mentioned on instruction labels or taught by technical staff. However, there are not having rules in detail for enforcing or sanctioning violations on improper pesticide use or the use of banned or unknown-origin pesticides. Users are responsibile for appropriate pesticide application activities regarding application time, dose and target crops.
Pesticide residues as a source of pollutant for water resources are a concern nationally. The Law on Water Resources was passed by the National Assembly in 1998. The law stipulates the utilization, protection, management, development of
water resources as well as the control and mitigation of any adverse influences caused by water. Toxic water, untreated wastewater or treated water not meeting allowance thresholds are forbidden to be discharged into recipient water bodies. The guidance of allowance thresholds relating to the quality of water resources is stipulated by legislations on environmental protection. Environmental protection activities are the responsibility for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE). The first Law on Environmental Protection (LEP) was promulgated in 1993. For the first time, rights and obligations of individuals and organizations were clearly regulated with respect to environmental protection. This law was replaced by the LEP 2005, No. 53/2005/QH11, which was passed by the National Assembly in response to changes of national developing requirement. Compared to the LEP 1993, the LEP 2005 provides not only regulations on environmental protection activities, but also on policies, measures and resources for protecting the environment. In addition, legislations of the new law stipulate the rights and obligations to protect environment for the state agencies, organizations, individuals, overseas Vietnamese and foreign organizations and individuals carrying out activities in Vietnam. In order to protect surface water quality, the National technical regulation on surface water quality was enacted by the MONRE. The newest regulation, QCVN 08: 2008/BTNMT, stipulates the threshold values of surface water quality parameters categorized into four classes A1, A2, B1 and B2. These classes are in response to the quality levels of surface water which can be supplied for domestic consumption, aquatic animal conservation, irrigation and waterway navigation as well as other purposes, respectively. In this regulation, threshold values of pesticide residues in surface water are stipulated in accordance with the above four classes. They include eight organochlorine, two organophosphorus and three herbicide compounds (2,4D, 2,4,5T and paraquat). The responsibility for monitoring the presence of pesticide residues in the surface water environment is with the MONRE.
Regarding human health to pesticide exposure, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is responsible for monitoring pesticide residues in drinking water as well as agricultural products. The quality of drinking water and water used for food production is regulated based on the National technical regulation on drinking water quality, QCVN01:2009/BYT. This regulation is promulgated by the MOH on Jun 17, 2009. It includes the allowance threshold values for basic parameters regarding organic and inorganic substances in drinking water. Allowance threshold values of 32 pesticide compounds are available in this ordinance. Most of these pesticides are
organochlorine and organophosphorus compounds. All residues of these pesticides in drinking water are periodically tested at least every two years.
In summary, pesticide application in agricultural production is a necessary activity to protect and enhance the yield of crops. However, these agrochemicals can be hazardous to non-target plants, animals, human beings and the environment. Depending on the physicochemical properties of pesticides and ambient environmental conditions, pesticides could be introduced into environment. Pesticide residues are considered pollutants for water resources, and they can be monitored by many various methods. In Vietnam, the authoritative organizations enacted the regulations on pesticide use and management. Regulations on surface and drinking water quality with regard to pesticide residues have been also promulgated. However, data on pesticide residues in surface water as well as in other environmental components are almost not available. In the MD, literature reviews showed that pesticides are widely applied for agricultural production. Several highly hazardous pesticides are still being applied. In chapter 3, the current use and management of pesticides in agricultural production at two representative areas of the MD are reported.