VietNamNet Bridge - Due to lax management over waste discharge, many agricultural areas in suburbs and industrial zone neighborhoods are becoming ‘dead land’. 

According to Mai Van Trinh, head of the Institute of Agricultural Environment, most agriculture land in Vietnam was initially fertile soil, suitable to many different crops. In the north, Red River Delta’s land formerly had reasonable sediment level and well balanced nutrition, with no negative factor for agriculture production.

The good land has been degrading seriously in recent years. In mountainous areas, farmers conduct intensive farming, and don’t apply any measures to prevent erosion. As a result, the land is becoming exhausted. 

Meanwhile, the accumulation of heavy metals such as iron and aluminum has washed away the soil’s fertility, especially organic matter and nutrients. As a result, while the toxicity concentration increases, the fertility in the land decreases, thus weakening the production capacity of the land.

The runoff of the land in mountainous area has also caused serious consequences, including eutrophication in downstream river basins. Many land areas in Red River Delta cannot maintain alluvial properties.

Due to lax management over waste discharge, many agricultural areas in suburbs and industrial zone neighborhoods are becoming ‘dead land’.

More seriously, large agricultural land areas in the suburbs and industrial zones’ neighborhood are being poisoned by the waste water. 

The land there is seriously vulnerable and it will take much time and money to rehabilitate it. These include land areas close to a metal plating craft village in Bac Ninh province and the suburbs of Hanoi such as Thanh Tri, Thuong Tin and Quoc Oai.

The large land area along the To Lich and Nhue – Day Rivers which run across the suburb districts in Hanoi has also become polluted. 

The Nhue River is extremely polluted because it runs across areas with a high density of craft villages that discharge untreated waste water. Research shows that no creature can live in the river system. These are the major sources of irrigated water for a large agricultural production area.

The Institute of Agricultural Environment carried out research projects on the impact of the use of Nhue and Day Rivers’ water on agricultural production and found that the accumulation of the substances leading to land degradation had increased sharply, thus badly affecting farm produce quality.

Organic pollution (the waste from slaughterhouses and food processing craft villages) can help crops grow better, but the risks are high for vegetables to become infected with E.coli and Coliform.

Inorganic pollution is more dangerous. Heavy metals accumulated in land will lead to high metal residue in plants. High pollution levels will cause food poisoning and fatal diseases.

When asked about the solutions to polluted land, he said it is difficult to rehabilitate land polluted with chemicals and heavy metals. The best solution is controlling waste water discharge.

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