BASF Vietnam’s revolutionary weapon against rice diseases

What are some of the challenges facing Vietnamese farmers today?

Vietnamese farmers face a number of challenges. One big issue is the cost and availability of labour. As Vietnam’s economy develops rapidly, many people are moving to the cities to seek employment. This makes it challenging for farmers to find workers to weed fields or help with the harvest and other tasks.

Vietnam’s growing population and increasing middle class means more and more people want high quality food and fresh produce. At the same time, meat consumption has increased dramatically over the last decade and animals require a lot of feed to grow. All these factors put pressure on the Vietnamese farming sector, as more food needs to be grown on the same amount of land.

What practical ways are there to tackle these challenges?

There are quite a few ways, BASF believes that focusing on education and technology is key. Modern farming practices should be adopted to increase the yield and quality of produce. One example is our new product for rice, known as Headline 100CS. It targets major rice diseases and has an added AgCelence which produces higher quality, higher yielding rice. Labour challenges can also be addressed with the application of modern herbicides such as BASF’s FACET, which can help eliminate the need for tiresome hand weeding in fields.

Farmers’ yields can be threatened by harmful diseases and pests, which can lower the yield by 20-80 per cent. Our modern products help to minimise risk for farmers allowing them peace of mind and leaving them to focus on improving the yield and quality of their produce.

Could you tell us more about BASF’s latest product, Headline 100CS?

Headline 100 CS is a fungicide designed to produce high quality rice more efficiently. It delivers outstanding control of key rice diseases such as neck blast, dirty panicle and leaf blast, which pose huge problems for Vietnamese farmers, threatening rice yields across the country. Its special encapsulation technology ensures a precise release of the blockbuster active ingredient F500 directly to the rice leaf surface where it acts while still being environmentally friendly.

Aside from disease protection, Headline 100CS also produces a higher rice yield and better grain quality. The product helps rice plants stay healthier, with greener leaves, reducing the negative impact of heat stress. It also helps the plant to produce higher quality rice by reducing unwanted broken or chaffy rice. This translates to higher rice prices for farmers and better quality rice for consumers.

Have the products being tested to ensure farmer safety?

It is very costly bringing a new crop protection ingredient to the market. BASF estimates that it cost in the region of over $200 million to develop one single active ingredient. This is why we pursue a global approach when developing new products. We then formulate the active ingredients into products which we can adapt for the local market to meet the needs of farmers.

We know that in Vietnam most farmers use backpack sprayers for our products. Our formulation is well suited for this application method. Safety in the use of our products is our key priority and we never compromise on safety. We rigorously test our products for their effects on humans, animals, and the environment and make sure that they pass the most stringent tests. Our products are in line with regulatory standards across the world. Transparency is very important to us, we are happy to provide further detailed information on any of our products if needed.