Harvester brokers still operate in key rice district of Nghe An

(Baonghean.vn) - Although some agricultural cooperatives in Yen Thanh have contracts with machine owners to harvest rice for farmers, in reality they still have to go through "harvesting machine brokers". District leaders know the problem, but have not been able to stop the "brokers" because the cooperatives do not have enough capacity.

By May 15, Yen Thanh's spring rice crop had basically been harvested. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Nguyen Khac Duc - Chairman of Hoa Thanh Commune People's Committee said: Before entering the harvest season, the commune government worked with the agricultural cooperative and the machine owners to agree on some contents on rice harvester management. Accordingly, the commune assigned the agricultural cooperative to sign contracts with the machine owners with specific bindings, and at the same time coordinated with the hamlets to determine the rice area of ​​each family, so that the machine owners could conveniently collect money.

Mr. Duc also admitted that in order to have a team of harvesters from the northern provinces to serve the rice harvest for the people, the agricultural cooperative had to contract with some "brokers" in the commune to bring the machines back, because the cooperative did not have the capacity to contract directly with the machine owners.

The commune directed the cooperative to establish an economic contract between party A, the cooperative, and party B, the person who brought the machine back. To bind party B's responsibility, party A collected 3 million VND in deposit/machine and 1.5 million VND/machine for irrigation repair fee. After completing the rice harvest for the people as agreed in the contract, party A returned the deposit to party B. This spring, Hoa Thanh has 13 harvesters operating in the commune.

However, there are also many communes that do not collect any fees from the machine owners but still provide attentive service to farmers. Mr. Hoang Danh Tho - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: After receiving the directive document from the District People's Committee on ensuring security in the 2017 Spring rice harvest, the Commune People's Committee assigned the agricultural cooperative to sign contracts with the harvester owners to serve the farmers.

But because the cooperative could not undertake it, the commune informed the people who were able to bring the machine back to register with the commune to do temporary residence for the machine owner to operate, without collecting any money from the machine owner. During the rice harvest, the machine owners proactively harvested rice for the people to ensure the time, with the price of 160,000 VND/sao and 180,000 VND/sao of moderately deep rice fields.

Economic contract between party A, Hoa Thanh Agricultural Service Cooperative, and party B, the person who brought the machine back. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Nguyen Vuong Ngoc - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee said: At the beginning of the harvest season, the District People's Committee issued Document No. 460 of Yen Thanh District People's Committee on ensuring security in the 2017 spring rice harvest and sent it to localities for implementation.

The document clearly states "requesting agricultural service cooperatives, based on the area and rice fields of the hamlets, to sign contracts with machine owners according to specific harvesting locations, at suitable prices, to harvest the entire area, to avoid unhealthy competition between machine owners, to ensure efficiency and high consensus among the people".

The district does not direct cooperatives to collect money from machine owners. However, cooperatives must account for it reasonably, with a binding relationship between machine owners and the locality. The responsibility of cooperatives is to serve members, the ultimate goal is to reduce costs for the people.

According to Mr. Ngoc, the district knows that localities are dependent on "brokers" for harvesters, but because the capacity of cooperatives is still weak and not capable enough to directly contract with harvester owners, they have to accept it. Currently, most of the harvesters in Yen Thanh district come mainly from the northern provinces. With the aim of serving people in the most beneficial way, cooperatives should have strict economic contracts, gradually tightening the management of harvesters during the rice harvest process, but currently it is still chaotic.

» Commune collects money for rice harvesters in Yen Thanh: Is there 'protection' or not?

Xuan Hoang