On August 2, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Man, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Quang Ngai province, said that the department had sent staff to some localities such as Dak Mar commune (Quang Ngai province) to collect fertilizer samples for quality testing, following reports from local farmers that the fertilizer had not dissolved after almost a month of application.
“However, as there is no specialized unit in Quang Ngai with the capacity to test fertilizer quality, the samples have to be sent to a unit under the Ministry of Industry and Trade for testing. We will announce the results to the people as soon as they are available,” said Mr. Man.
Ms. Tran Thi Thi soaked the fertilizer in water, resulting in a clay-like substance with many intact granules.
According to local farmers in Dak Mar commune, they had purchased NPK fertilizer for their coffee trees, but despite heavy rains over the past month, the fertilizer remained intact.
Ms. Tran Thi Thi, a resident of Dak Mar, shared that on May 23, 2025, she bought 800kg of NPK fertilizer from a dealer in Dak Ha commune (Quang Ngai province) for over VND 12 million to fertilize her 1,800 coffee trees.
On May 26, she applied the entire amount of fertilizer. Soon after, there was continuous heavy rain for eight days.
The fertilizer remained intact even after 25 days of being applied by the farmers.
“When the rain stopped, I checked my coffee trees, and the fertilizer was still in its original form, only changing from purple to white in color, with no change in size. Typically, NPK fertilizer dissolves completely within two days of rain, but this fertilizer remained unchanged, despite the heavy rainfall over more than a week,” said Ms. Thi.
Ms. Tran Thi Suong, also a resident of Dak Mar, shared a similar experience, having purchased 600kg of the same NPK fertilizer and applied about 400 kg to her coffee trees. After realizing that the fertilizer was not dissolving, she returned the remaining 200 kg to the dealer.
The fertilizer remained intact even one month after application.
The farmers reported that they had discussed the issue with the fertilizer dealer and a representative from the company whose name appeared on the packaging. However, both parties insisted that the product was of good quality. The company explained that the reason for the fertilizer not dissolving was that it was a “slow-release” fertilizer.
Disagreeing with this explanation, the farmers sent a petition to the authorities, requesting an inspection of the quality of the NPK fertilizer they had used.
“We have used slow-release fertilizer before, and after eight days of continuous heavy rain, at least 80% of it should have dissolved. It should not remain intact like this,” said Ms. Suong, expressing her frustration.
On July 22, the People’s Committee of Quang Ngai province issued a document requesting the Department of Industry and Trade to take charge of sample testing, coordinate with relevant units, and report the results before July 30. However, as of August 2, Ms. Thi shared that she had not received any feedback from the authorities.
