Need to change support for agricultural production tools in the West

(Baonghean) - The support for purchasing agricultural tools and machinery for agricultural production services for ethnic minority households and poor households in especially disadvantaged communes, villages and hamlets in the western districts of Nghe An according to Decision 755/QD-TTg has been implemented since 2013. However, through practical application, there have been shortcomings that need to be revised to maximize effectiveness; to meet the aspirations of the people.

Practical application

Tuong Duong is one of the localities in Nghe An that benefited from the policy of supporting the purchase of agricultural tools and machinery for agricultural production services with more than 155 households. After reviewing the beneficiaries, the beneficiaries registered the type of machinery they needed to buy with the government, then the people went to buy the machines themselves and the government accepted them before disbursing the money, not directly giving money to the people and each household received a maximum of 5 million VND in support. In 2015, Tuong Duong district supported the two communes of Tam Thai and Tam Dinh, disbursing 155 million VND/31 households.

Officers of the Ethnic Affairs Department of Tuong Duong district surveyed the effectiveness of using rice milling machines. of households in Can village, Tam Thai commune.

The types of agricultural tools and machinery that people choose to use for agricultural production services are mainly rice threshers, harvesters, milling machines, vegetable cutters, and pesticide sprayers. Most households choose to buy manual rice threshers for nearly 800,000 VND, other types of machines cost from 1.5 to 3 million VND; a few register to buy grass cutters for nearly 7 million VND, and milling machines for nearly 10 million VND. For machines costing more than 5 million VND, people have to make up the remaining amount.

The reason is that the households are all poor households, especially disadvantaged households and lack of land for production. Therefore, when considering buying agricultural machinery or agricultural service machines, they do not have an urgent need or cannot afford to pay extra money to buy them.

If buying machines that cost less than 5 million VND, it can only support production and livestock farming, helping people reduce the use of human labor but not help increase crop and livestock productivity. If people want to invest in machines for agricultural services, they need to pay an amount of capital that is almost equal to the amount of support or more, for example, buying a rice milling machine costs 9.8 million VND, which means people have to pay 4.8 million VND.

However, many households cannot afford it even though they really want to. For example, Mr. Lo Van Sao's household in Khoi village, Tam Thai commune, initially registered to buy a rice threshing machine and a rice milling machine for a total of nearly 11 million VND, but because he could not afford to raise an additional 6 million VND, he switched to buying a foot-operated rice threshing machine and a grass cutter for less than 5 million VND. However, realizing that the purchased machine did not bring much efficiency, Mr. Sao shared the same thought as many other households that he would use the support money to borrow more capital from the bank to buy cows.

Tam Thai commune has 1,009 households but only 96 hectares of rice, each household only has about 0.2 hectares of rice cultivation, so the demand for machinery for planting, harvesting and threshing is not high; therefore, there are few people hiring for harvesting and threshing services.

Mr. Luong Van Vien - Head of the Ethnic Affairs Department of Tuong Duong district said: "The households that have been supported to buy agricultural tools and machinery have not seen clear results, and have not changed their lives. Many households after receiving the machines only operate them a couple of times a month, or after receiving the machines, they "cover them up".

A typical example is the family of Mr. Ngan Van Thiet, who has not used a single machine since March 2015, even though after receiving the machine, the family bought an additional electric motor to avoid having to pedal it. Mr. Thiet's stilt house is always closed and locked, with weeds growing on the porch, front yard and garden. Ms. Vi Thi Hong, Mr. Thiet's mother, said that he and his wife do not have much land for production, so the rice they produce is not enough to eat, and they do not have enough capital to buy a machine to provide services, so they had to send their children to their grandparents to take care of and go to the South to find work.

Ms. Vi Thi Hong next to the rice threshing machine she bought over a year ago but has never used.

People's wishes

When asked about the effectiveness of supporting agricultural tools and machinery for agricultural production services in Tam Thai commune, Mr. Vi Viet Kieu - Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: "There is effectiveness, but it only stops at helping people to reduce hardship, but has not created a new source of income for them, not really suitable for local conditions".

This is also the general situation for localities benefiting from this policy in the Western districts - where 36% of the population are ethnic minorities. The number of beneficiaries of the policy of Decision 755/QD-TTg is very large, so it is necessary to consider the effectiveness when applying and implementing so that the Party and State's policies are truly meaningful, helping people escape poverty sustainably.

In 2015, the Central budget allocated to Nghe An 4 billion 530 million VND to buy agricultural tools and machinery to provide agricultural production services for subjects under Decision 755/QD-TTg, of which Con Cuong district 430 million VND, Quy Chau district 750 million VND, Que Phong district 810 million VND, Ky Son 805 million VND,...

In the western districts, most of the ethnic minority areas, especially the difficult areas are mountainous terrain, steep and narrow land, making it very difficult to cultivate, only suitable for raising livestock. Therefore, "because there is no policy, but if there is a policy, they would rather buy cows", Mr. Luong Doan - Head of the Ethnic Affairs Department of Quy Chau district affirmed when discussing the desire to change the purpose of using support capital to buy agricultural machinery of the people in the district.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Luong Van Khanh - Deputy Head of the Provincial Ethnic Committee said: From the feedback of the people and the reflection of the localities, at the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, the Provincial Ethnic Committee reviewed and sent many delegations to inspect and survey each specific locality and found that the proposal to change the purpose of use was necessary.

Therefore, in March this year, the Provincial Ethnic Committee advised the Provincial People's Committee to send an official dispatch to the Ethnic Committee, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Finance to request approval to implement the policy of supporting career conversion according to Decision 755/QD-TTg, which clearly stated: Support for purchasing machinery and agricultural tools with support funds and loans according to regulations makes it difficult to purchase machinery to provide services for people to escape poverty sustainably.

Furthermore, it is very difficult to choose agricultural machinery that is suitable for local needs due to the lack of regular work arrangements, and some types of agricultural tools that households have been supported with are not effective. This leads to the implementation of support for these contents easily wasting State money and not achieving the set goals, so it is desirable to use the support funds and loans of the program to proactively change occupations to suit the conditions of each locality.

After consideration, the Ethnic Committee and the Ministry of Planning and Investment agreed with the proposal of Nghe An province. However, this policy has not been implemented because it has not received the approval of the Ministry of Finance. Therefore, in the first 6 months of 2016, Nghe An has not been able to disburse any capital for the support item for purchasing agricultural machinery and agricultural service machinery according to Decision 755/QD-TTg, which means that thousands of households eligible for support are still waiting to benefit from this policy.

Hoai Thu