Agricultural mechanization: Need appropriate policies

(Baonghean) -Using mechanization in agriculture, especially using machines in land preparation and rice harvesting, has helped free up labor, reduce heavy labor for farmers, reduce post-harvest losses, and meet large production requirements. However, mechanization in our province is still spontaneous and lacks uniformity.

Using kubota harvester in Tang Thanh - Yen Thanh.

Present at the field of hamlet 4, Tang Thanh commune - Yen Thanh right at the time when people were harvesting rice, we witnessed the effectiveness of the combine harvester. With 4 people, 2 operators, 2 bagging people, in less than 15 minutes the machine had harvested more than 2 sao of rice. Ms. Huong in hamlet 4 - Tang Thanh, whose field had just been harvested, happily said: Before, to harvest 1 sao of rice, my family had to hire 3 workers for about 450,000 VND, not to mention having to hire a vehicle to transport and rent a threshing machine to get the rice grains. Now, renting a harvester only costs 200,000 VND, the labor is cheap, fast and produces rice immediately.

It is known that in the spring crop of 2014, the whole commune of Tang Thanh planted over 360 hectares, thanks to the conversion of land from small plots to large plots, it was very convenient for mechanization in the fields. During the race against the season, the commune had 2 households invest in buying harvesters, the commune contracted to rent 5 more harvesters from Thanh Hoa and Ninh Binh, 7 harvesters are operating at full capacity. Up to this point, over 70% of the area has been harvested. According to calculations, with the rice area of ​​the commune, 10 combine harvesters are needed to be proactive, because it is very difficult to rent machines during the main crop season. Although the State supported interest subsidy for buying harvesters, the number of machines purchased is very small, the reason is that if buying a small capacity harvester is ineffective, but buying a large capacity machine, farmers do not have enough money.

Mr. Nguyen Van Duong - Head of the Yen Thanh District Agriculture Department added: This spring crop, Yen Thanh planted 12,700 hectares, thanks to land conversion and planning to build an internal traffic system, the mechanization of the fields was effective. Right from the beginning of the crop, the district mobilized 30 combine harvesters, contributing to speeding up the harvest to prepare the land for the summer-autumn crop. The district needs about 50 combine harvesters, while the whole district has less than 10 machines. According to Mr. Duong: The reason for buying few harvesters is because the price of harvesters is too high and the support policy has not reached the farmers. For multi-function plows, the whole district currently has over 1,000 machines, but only less than 200 plows enjoy bank interest rates.

In the fields of Quynh Hau - Quynh Luu commune, the combine harvesters are working at full capacity. Ms. Le My in hamlet 5, who works on 3 sao of rice fields, confided: Because everyone wants to harvest quickly to prepare the land for the summer-autumn crop, while there are too few harvesters, it leads to a phenomenon of fighting with each other. Mr. Ho Van Hoa - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Hau commune added: Since 2012, the commune has completed the land conversion. All the main roads in the fields have been paved, and over 400 hectares of spring rice can use mechanical machines. To meet the spring rice harvest needs of the people, the commune has contracted to rent 4 harvesters from Thanh Hoa along with 2 local harvesters, but still cannot keep up with the demand, the commune needs 7-8 harvesters.

The problem now is that there are quite a few farmers who want to access preferential capital to buy combine harvesters for service purposes. However, according to feedback, to buy a tractor under the support form, you must buy a domestically produced machine with a red invoice. However, domestically produced tractors are mainly of large capacity that are not suitable for the land, so people mainly buy them from outside.

Quynh Luu district planted 7,572 hectares of rice this spring, the need for combine harvesters is very large, while the whole district has only purchased 3 harvesters, the rest mainly have to rent harvesters from other provinces (nearly 20 machines). Mr. Nguyen Van Than - an officer of Quynh Luu Agricultural Bank said: From 2013 until now, the bank has only given 2 households loans under the mechanism of buying harvesters worth 460 million VND, 66 multi-function plows worth 1.5 billion VND.

Mr. Phan Duy Thieu - Deputy Head of the Department of Finance and Planning of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: Up to now, the province has enjoyed over 900 multi-function plows of all kinds under the policy. There are currently over 500 harvesters of all kinds, however, they are mainly old machines (row harvesters), from 2012-2014, the Kubota combine harvester line was introduced, and less than 10 machines were purchased under the support policy. While the whole province needs about over 500 combine harvesters, the reason why our province has few combine harvesters, mainly having to rent and borrow is because the province has budget difficulties, so the support mechanism is somewhat limited, it must be divided according to the interest rate support target, so the number of people buying combine harvesters is very limited. In 2014, the budget under the support mechanism was about 8.4 billion VND, of which 4.3 billion VND was for interest compensation, the remaining 4.1 billion VND was for machine subsidies, both harvesters and multi-function plows.

It can be seen that mechanization in our province is not yet synchronous, currently the highest mechanization rate in land preparation is about 70%, mostly small capacity machines, serving the needs of households, the rate of harvesting by machine accounts for less than 30%, the rate of using new transplanters is from 2-3%. To increase the rate of mechanization in agricultural production, it is necessary to continue to promote land consolidation, plot exchange, and the formation of concentrated specialized production areas. And should there be adjustments in mechanisms and policies, specifically for tractors that do not "control" horsepower so that people can access preferential capital to buy large capacity machines to plow the land for both upland crops and industrial crops of all kinds.

Van Truong