“Land is not silent. Land only needs us to listen” is the message from Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan, who has been deeply involved in agriculture for many years as Minister of Agriculture and Environment. This serves as both a reminder and the main content of the webinar Land is gradually dying: from ecological degradation to value chain disruption, implications for sustainable agriculture, community livelihoods, and EUDR organized by the EUDR Forestry Network and the Agroforestry Policy Research Network, held on the afternoon of May 5, 2026.
The Paradox of a “Successful” Agriculture
After more than 30 years of Doi Moi (Renovation), Vietnam has transformed from a food-deficient country into an agricultural export powerhouse, with agricultural, forestry, and fishery export-import turnover in 2025 reaching over 70 billion USD. Contributing nearly 12% to GDP and ensuring livelihoods for about 60% of the rural population, agriculture is considered a “soft cushion” for the economy. These figures are impressive. But behind them is a story less told.
To achieve that output, the amount of fertilizer used in Vietnamese agriculture has increased sixfold compared to the mid-1980s, currently reaching over 400 kg/ha/year, three times higher than the world average. As for plant protection products, the country consumes about 100,000 tons annually, averaging 3.2 kg/ha. In many coffee and pepper growing regions in the Central Highlands, farmers admit they spray pesticides not necessarily because the plants need them, but for… peace of mind.
The consequences have been officially recorded: according to a report by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment published in 2024, the total degraded land area nationwide is 11.8 million hectares, equivalent to one-third of the total natural land area, of which 1.2 million hectares are severely degraded. Approximately 5 million hectares of agricultural land, or nearly 40%, have been degraded. In the Central Highlands alone, about 40% of cultivated land is in a similar state, with 1.1 million hectares severely degraded.
Intensive cultivation and the unseen vicious cycle
Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hoa (Western Highlands Agriculture & Forestry Science Institute) analyzed the degradation mechanism many farming households unknowingly fall into: prolonged monoculture – characteristic of coffee, pepper, and durian regions – depletes soil nutrients crop by crop, while also creating conditions for pests to accumulate and develop resistance. A vicious cycle forms: pesticide-resistant pests necessitate more spraying, which in turn destroys the soil microbiome, the plants' natural “immune system.”
After 20 years of continuous cultivation with chemical fertilizers, soil pH in many areas has decreased by about 0.5 degrees, enough to disrupt the plant's entire nutrient absorption capacity. A typical case cited by Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cong (FAO Vietnam): in Son La, corn cultivation on sloping land without protective measures leads to annual erosion of about 100 – 150 tons/ha, equivalent to 7 – 15 cm of topsoil every decade. If this trend continues, in just the next 30 – 40 years, many areas will be left with only bedrock.
Dr. Pham Tuan Anh, former Director of the Department of Agriculture of Dak Nong province, pointed out: in the race for production and market share, farmers have forgotten indigenous farming knowledge such as crop rotation, allowing the land to rest between crops, and intercropping to maintain ground cover. These practices were once natural self-balancing mechanisms; now they have almost disappeared.
Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cong emphasized: land is not just the foundation of agricultural production. It is also a carbon sink, a groundwater filter, and a place that nourishes all biodiversity. Furthermore, it is the health of all living organisms on the earth's surface. When land degrades, the entire chain of ecosystem services is damaged accordingly. In the context of Vietnam setting an agricultural growth target of 6 – 7% per year, significantly higher than the current 3 – 4%, pressure on land resources will continue to escalate.
From "Exploitation" to "Care": changing the perspective on land
Dr. To Xuan Phuc (Forest Trends) proposed a different perspective: land should be treated as a living entity, with a “right” to be respected. In the past 50 years, the value that land contributes to agricultural products has never been properly accounted for in the product cost structure. We have borrowed from the land without a repayment mechanism.
Verified technical solutions include: crop rotation, intercropping cover crops, using microbial fertilizers can help reduce chemical fertilizer use by 20 – 30%, and irrigating according to the actual needs of plants instead of routine. Intercropping models in the Central Highlands show that income per unit area can be 1.5 to 2 times higher than monoculture. However, technical solutions will not be sufficient without comprehensive policy support: from land use planning, a system of soil health indicators, a national database, to a clear interdisciplinary legal framework for localities to implement.
Expanding policies
What was discussed in the webinar goes beyond the technical picture. It is a story about a development choice that needs reconsideration. Vietnam faces a paradox: on one hand, agriculture is identified as a growth pillar with ambitious targets; on the other hand, the natural foundation to realize these ambitions is gradually depleting. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cong noted that soil health is at an “alarming level” after decades of continuous exploitation.
In 2025, for the first time, Vietnam will have a specialized unit dedicated to soil health: the Soil Health Management Department under the Plant Cultivation and Protection Department. Government Decision No. 300/QD-TTg on transforming the food system also requires a shift from an extractive mindset to a regenerative one. These are positive signs. However, all speakers agreed: isolated institutions and general policies are not enough. Soil health is an interdisciplinary issue: related to agriculture, water resources, climate change, spatial planning, and biodiversity – but it is currently managed fragmentedly, lacking effective coordination mechanisms between ministries and sectors.
This is a gap that needs to be filled at the national policy level: a system of soil health indicators classified by ecological region; a centralized national database instead of dozens of fragmented datasets from different projects; and more importantly, a financial incentive mechanism that makes farmers see “caring for the land” as more beneficial than “draining the land.” Without the right economic mechanism, no technical intervention alone will be powerful enough to change behavior across millions of farming households.
The message of the webinar is not to “stop” but to “change direction.” From a seasonal mindset to a generational mindset. From productivity management to health management. From exploiting land as a tool to caring for land as a living organism.
And that is a matter of national policy, not just for individual farmers.
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