Vietnam’s rural areas are suffering from pollution and without strict control, the situation is likely to get worse.

Professor Dang Kim Chi from the Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment said based on a strategy to develop agriculture, craft villages and rural areas, the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides is forecast to rise significantly.

From 2008 – 2014, it amounted to 481,167 tonnes per year, but only half of them were absorbed by plants. The remaining soaked into the ground having a serious impact on the environment and human health.

The animal husbandry sector, which accounts for 25 percent of the agriculture sector, discharges 84.5 million tonnes of waste annually. If cattle breeding expands, the volume of waste will pile up.

The aquaculture sector is also among the polluters, and with plans to expand the sector to 790,000ha by 2020, saltwater intrusion and epidemics are very likely.

Moreover, the sector needs nearly 4.4 million tonnes of feed annually, at least 30 percent of which will go unconsumed and be discharged into the environment.

Household solid waste originating from rural production and constructions has also added to concerns.

In the Law on Environment Pollution, several terms need to be amended and supplemented while monitoring should be strengthened to mitigate these risks as part of efforts to realise the National Target Programme on Rural Water Supply and Environment Sanitation.

Experts say there is an urgent need to improve the capacity of management staff in the field of environmental protection, and find solutions to mitigate and treat agricultural and rural waste while raising public awareness of the problem.

VNA