Time: 14.00 – 16.00, Thursday, April 28, 2022
Venue: Room 101, B6 Building, MARD, No. 2 Ngọc Ha, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Biochar produced from the pyrolysis process can be applied individually to the farm as soil conditioners or can be mixed with additional nutrients for the generation of bio-fertilizers. With a high carbon content, large porosity, and huge surface area, biochar increases microbial activity, and water and nutrient retention in soils. Biochar application enables a reduction in fertilizer and chemical use, improves soil health, and results in increased crop yields significantly contributing to achieving the objective of developing green, environmentally friendly agriculture, adapting to climate change, and reducing rural environmental pollution which has been outlined in The Strategy for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development for the 2021 – 2030 period, with a vision to 2050, approved by the Prime Minister on January 28, 2022.
With the aim of knowledge sharing to raise awareness of biochar and its potential application in the agricultural sector as well as networking and building collaborations to promote the commercialization of simple and low-cost pyrolysis technology (the PPV300) from Switzerland successfully transferred to Vietnam, the Ministry of Agricultural Rural and Development (MARD) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) cordially organized this event.
This virtual webinar attracted 260 registers, and more than 180 participants from Vietnam and other 11 countries around the world with over 50 questions and discussions.
Concerns raised by participants:
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- Usage and application of biochar in agriculture practices (farmland, aquaculture, biomass waste handling…)
- How does biochar contribute to the reduction/ mitigation of GHG emissions
- Applicable technologies to convert agricultural by-products into biochar
- Concern about main constraints for Vietnamese farmers and or food producers when scaling up biochar production and application
During the 2-hour duration of the webinar, four presentations on different aspects of biochar were delivered to audiences by both national and international experts as below:
Along with that, to provide a better understanding and in-depth information about pyrolysis biochar as well as its application for soil improvement, the project team shared other supporting reports, documents, and the link to a video clip made during the biochar capacity building workshop at Binh Minh Cooperative. All the webinar materials were uploaded on ISG’s website with an open-access.
The event attracted media attention and was reported on different channels, i.e. Center for Agriculture Digital Transformation and Statistics- MARD’s website, VTC16 channel, the online newspaper of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, VNCPC’s website, Provincial Agricultural Extension Centres under Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARDs) of Lam Dong province, of Nghe An province.
