Sustainable agriculture is deemed an inevitable path for Vietnam to increase agricultural yield and values, while also protecting the environment and ensuring national food security.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan visits a field adopting Much More Rice solutions

Promoting product stewardship

As an industry leader in agriculture, Bayer is working diligently to ensure that the company’s products, services, and technologies are safe, sustainable, and environmentally responsible while meeting grower expectations and needs.

A key part of this is ensuring that Bayer’s employees and growers are trained to use products responsibly, ecologically, and effectively – from the handling and application of the products to the disposal of empty containers.

In 2017, Bayer launched the Safe Use Ambassador contest with a view to building a network of partners and ambassadors to share and spread the message of using crop protection products safely among farmer communities. The company is partnering with faculties of agriculture at universities in Asia-Pacific to connect student and farmer communities with a view to encouraging exchanges to find effective and creative ways to impart knowledge and promote sustainable agricultural practices, which include the use and disposal of crop protection products responsibly.

The Safe Use Ambassador contest has reached out to 40 universities across eight nations in Asia-Pacific, with more than 10,000 students trained as certified Bayer Safe Use Ambassadors to date. In Vietnam, the contest has attracted more than 300 local students and farmers.

In 2022, the contest was kicked off for agricultural students at the Faculty of Agriculture, Can Tho University, and University of Agriculture and Forestry – Hue University.

Since 2017, over 10,000 students across eight countries have been trained to become Safe Use Ambassadors for Bayer crop protection products

Collaboration for sustainability

Along with ensuring the safety of farmers, Bayer is fostering partnerships with various industry stakeholders in developing and implementing Bayer ForwardFarming – a global initiative to support sustainability in agriculture across three areas: care for crops, care for the planet and people, and care for partnerships.

By joining the Bayer ForwardFarming model, farmers can be one step ahead with sustainability in agriculture by taking an integrated approach using tailored solutions, acting responsibly, preserving natural resources and the environment, and becoming pioneers in sustainable agricultural production.

In Vietnam, sharing the common objective of improving farm productivity and sustainable agricultural practices, the National Agriculture Extension Centre under the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development and Bayer signed an MoU to cooperate and share practical measures for the farmers in the Mekong Delta region.

The areas of cooperation under the MoU include collaborations on key sustainable rice production in the Mekong Delta and support for improved on-farm practices, productivity, and crop quality, together with other industry stakeholders.

Chu Viet Ha, head of the Crop Science Division of Bayer Vietnam, acknowledged the company’s efforts to partner with farmers as well as government organisations.

“We believe human ingenuity can shape the future of agriculture. For more than 150 years, Bayer has constantly leveraged its strengths in researching and developing new solutions, in combination with the application of science and technology to improve the quality of life for everyone,” Ha said. “I believe that, together, we will shape the future of sustainable agriculture in Vietnam.”