One estimates that 90% Vietnamese farmers use up to 50% too much chemicals. Often at the wrong time and without the proper proportions and doses. There are many cases of poisoning. The farmer himself is also a victim: he goes out spraying barefoot and with no mask, using products which are sometimes forbiddent elsewhere.

On the contrary, in the mountains, where the poor ethnic minorities live, the yields are low, they use no fertilizer nor pesticide, no compost.

In Cambodia also: in Svay Riêng many farmers decalre that chemicals are dangerous. But they produce one crop a year with a poor yield of about one ton! On equivalent soils, the Vietnamese farmer will have 2-3 crops with yields varying from 3 to 7 tons each time.

We do not promote pure organic farming because we observe it is not profitable yet for the farmer. Instead we prefer a balanced agriculture, following the GAP code (Good Agricultural Practices): more compost, no dangerous forbidden chemicals, less chemicals in any case... There is still a long way to reach the GAP but it is necessary to accelerate the move. To protect the soils, the farmers and the consumers, and finally because Vietnam like Cambodia have joined the WTO (World Trade Organization): exports play an increasingly important role and are often more profitable than the small local markets. These are all very good reasons to obey international norms.

For instance the cashew nuts: European customers say they want organic nuts, offering a better price. But the price incentive is too small compared to the difference in yields, which with the good practices recommended by our agronomists have jumped from 800 kilos to almost 3 tons per hectare.