VietNamNet Bridge – Some scientists carry out research to create new varieties with the state’s money, but then sell their results to businesses for money, according to Dr. Duong Van Chin, an agronomist.

Chin made the statement when asked about the quality of plant varieties and what the state should do to retain greatest geneticists.

Dr. Chin was a “state employee”, holding the post of the deputy head of the Mekong River Delta Rice Institute. But after retirement, Chin became the director of the Dinh Thanh Agriculture Research Center, a cooperation project between the An Giang Plant Protection JSC and Syngenta, a multinational group on biotechnology and plant varieties.

In other words, Chin was once a hired state employee in the past and he is a businessman at this moment.

Analysts noted that when scientists work for state’s institutes and agencies, they cannot create good plant varieties, but when they shift to work for private businesses, they gain many achievements.

Do scientists receive better pay when they work for businesses?

Chin said that most of the rice varieties in the Mekong River Delta are products created by scientists at the state-owned Mekong River Delta Rice Institute.

However, in some cases, there are also people who carry out research with the state’s money but later sell the best varieties they create to private businesses.

Chin said the current management policy prompts scientists to do this.

In general, scientists have three to five years to carry out their research works, and after that period, they must submit one or several varieties. If they cannot, they must return the state funding.

With such a policy, scientists have to create new varieties, at any cost, and have the varieties recognized by watchdog agencies.

“They (scientists) do not care if the varieties they create have high quality and fit the consumers’ taste,” Chin said.

Funding disbursement

Why do scientists prefer working for businesses to state research institutes?

An official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said the ministry budgets VND700 billion a year for scientific research. Of this, VND500 billion is paid to researchers, while the remaining VND200 billion is given for project implementation.

“The modest sum of money is obviously not enough for all fields of agriculture production,” he noted.

Chin noted that it takes scientists five to seven years to create a new plant variety, but Vietnamese scientists are not given enough time to adequately complete their research works.

Dat Viet