Nguyen Thanh Hien Le Thi Nham Tuyet Center for Gender, Family and Environment in the Development Introduction Human health has been seriously impacted by the use agrochemicals which farmers, especially women, are directly exposed to in their daily work. The degree of chemical pesticide use has been of great concern in our country, partly because of the improper selection of imported pesticides and the users' lack of knowledge. If consideration is not given now to this problem, Vietnam might become a future dump for toxic chemicals. It can be said that a major part of Vietnam's environmental problems could be resolved if the rural environment were well protected .
Rural women work hard and they perform the bulk of farming activities .
Women work betwee 8 and 16 hours per day on household duties and children in addition to their farm work, while males work less than 7 hours per day. Women's total working time per year amounts to 302 to 336 days. In such a situation, women who play a major role in the cause of rural construction and development are suffering because of overwork and a difficult environment. The Research Center for Gender, Family, Environment in Development has been studying micro organic fertilizer application and production with the purpose of increasing the productivity of crops and replacing agrochemical nitrogen. We, therefore, can imagine that these microorganisms work as micro nitrogen factories operating without causing environmental pollution and requiring inputs.