Vietnam’s imports of organic fertiliser has surged in the past three years, reflecting increasing demand for the green product.

In 2017 alone, Vietnam imported about 220,000 tonnes of organic fertiliser, double the amount of 2016.

Meanwhile, the production of organic fertiliseruses farming by-products and organic waste as its materials.Vietnam produces between 60 and 70 million tonnesof agricultural by-products annually.

The country currently needs about 11 million tonnes of fertiliser a year. As of December 2017, the number of registered organic fertiliser products was 713, accounting for 5 percent of the total, while the number of inorganic products made up 93.7 percent and biological products 1.3 percent.

The nation has 180 establishments licensed to make organic fertiliser but about 150 of themactively manufacture, with overall capacity reaching approximately 1.3 million tonnes a year.

The country aims to annually manufacture 3 million tonnes of organic fertiliser by 2020.-VNA