Land consolidation - a policy that pleases the people

(Baonghean) - Directive No. 08-CT/TU dated May 8, 2012 of the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee on promoting the mobilization of farmers to "consolidate land and exchange plots" and encourage land accumulation to develop large-scale production in agriculture was issued very promptly, meeting practical requirements. Overall, it shows that this is a correct policy, in line with the people's wishes, so it should be put into practice quickly, although to date, the land consolidation and exchange work in some localities has not been completed.

Eliminate fragmentation

Since 2011, the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee has issued Directive No. 02-CT/TU on mobilizing farmers to convert land. However, according to the assessment, land conversion in many localities at this stage still has some shortcomings and limitations. That is, land conversion has not been linked with field planning and crop and livestock restructuring; the area of ​​land after conversion is still small; the average number of plots per household is still high, not connected to the region, not connected to the plot, and has not formed large specialized areas with high economic efficiency. Land conversion in color areas, alluvial areas, and industrial crop areas has not received attention, and planning and management of public land funds are still inadequate.

Land consolidation and plot exchange create conditions for farmers in Phuc Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) to apply mechanization to production.

These limitations have greatly affected the management, application of scientific and technical advances in production, intensive investment, economic efficiency in agricultural production and have not met the requirements of new rural construction. In that context, on May 8, 2012, the Provincial Party Standing Committee issued Directive 08-CT/TU on promoting the mobilization of farmers to "consolidate and exchange plots" and encourage land accumulation to develop large-scale production in agriculture, in order to overcome the above limitations.

Phuc Thanh Commune (Yen Thanh) is one of the first localities in the province to complete the work of plantation and plot exchange. The Party Committee and People's Council of the commune have issued a Resolution on the land conversion plan, serving the mechanization of large fields, building new rural areas in the period 2011 - 2015. The People's Committee of the commune has also issued a Decision to establish a Steering Committee, a Planning Committee, a Propaganda Committee and sub-committees for conversion in villages and hamlets.

With the active participation of the entire political system as well as a methodical approach, Phuc Thanh received high consensus among the people. Within just one month, this locality completed the land consolidation and plot exchange. As a result, from fragmented fields, each household had at least 3 plots or more, after the conversion, the average was only 1.2 plots/household.

Of these, more than 1,800 households have 1 plot and 506 households have 2 plots. Successfully implementing the conversion helps Phuc Thanh have the conditions to re-plan the fields and complete the internal traffic and irrigation system. In this commune, all internal traffic systems are widened to 7m with a total length of nearly 110km.

After land consolidation, farmers in Cam Son and Anh Son communes have the conditions to intensively cultivate and increase production value.

In Trang Son commune, a semi-mountainous commune of Do Luong district, the implementation of land consolidation and plot exchange has created a fundamental change in the fragmented situation on the fields. Taking us to visit the summer-autumn rice fields with plump grains, Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune Le Dinh Thong shared: "The conversion principle of Trang Son is favorable farming and favorable living conditions. People in each hamlet must prioritize the rice fields near the residential area of ​​that hamlet; whoever receives alluvial land must not receive rice fields. The deep, low-lying and narrow land areas were put up for bidding first... for the hamlets to discuss democratically, so the people agreed and responded."

Thanks to that, the revolution in land arrangement in Trang Son has achieved great results. Before the conversion, the smallest plot was only 60m2, but after the conversion, the smallest plot was over 500m2; the average number of plots per household decreased from 4.7 to 1.21 plots/household with 1,063 households having 1 plot, and only 276 households having 2 plots. The whole commune has gathered 470 graves scattered in the fields into one place, through the revolution, 34 households encroaching on land were dealt with, 6,500 m2 were recovered, 45 households using the wrong purpose were dealt with, 7,800 m2 were recovered... The results achieved have helped Trang Son to be evaluated as the commune implementing land consolidation and plot exchange best and most thoroughly in Do Luong district.

According to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment - Standing Office of the Provincial Steering Committee for Land Consolidation and Plot Exchange, by the end of 2015, the whole province had 313/313 communes with 88,891.6 hectares of agricultural land eligible for land consolidation and plot exchange in the field. The construction of internal traffic and irrigation systems after land consolidation and plot exchange was in accordance with the approved project and planning; the fields were re-planned, meeting the requirements for mechanization in agricultural production, especially in land preparation, pest control, harvesting, and transportation of materials and products; creating favorable conditions for the production process, improving irrigation efficiency; contributing to creating a new and more beautiful face for rural agriculture.

Lessons in organizing and mobilizing the people

Before Directive 08-CT/TU, Thanh Chuong district had a Resolution and project on the issue of land conversion and accumulation. And the land accumulation revolution has really created a fundamental change in the agricultural production of this lowland district. However, in reality, the implementation of the movement for farmers to consolidate and exchange plots still has some communes with poor results, affecting the movement.

After land consolidation, farmers in Cam Son and Anh Son communes have the conditions to intensively cultivate and increase production value.

As a purely agricultural commune, implementing Directive 08-CT/TU of the Provincial Party Committee, Cat Van commune (Thanh Chuong) chose the hamlet as the conversion unit and carried out the conversion in the context of inattentive propaganda work, cadres and people did not really understand to have changes in awareness and ideology to create high consensus... Therefore, the land conversion in this locality still has many limitations. After the conversion, the whole commune had 797 households receiving 2 areas, 1,042 households receiving 3 areas, only converting the simple rice field area, which was favorable, but the foothill and intruded fields were not converted yet, including hamlet 10 which has not yet been completed.

The unfortunate thing in Cat Van is that the people should have been mobilized to "consolidate land and exchange plots" to review and rearrange land types, to implement the long-term vision for the locality, first of all, to build new rural areas, but it was completely impossible. After "consolidation of land and exchange plots", the mechanization of the stages in the rice production process was still limited; key crops that create higher value on each land area had not been formed. Chairman of Cat Van Commune People's Committee - Mr. Bui Gia Hao said: "The land exchange in Cat Van was due to the failure to comprehensively review all types of land, so in addition to not being able to recover the encroached land area, public land could not be concentrated.

This will sooner or later become a deadlock when the commune builds social public welfare works as well as plans for local development in the future." The Party Secretary and Chairman of the People's Council of Cat Van commune - Mr. Tran Van Thao admitted: "Due to the confusion and haste in the implementation of the conversion, the direction is unscientific and mechanical, so the mobilization of farmers to consolidate and exchange land plots in Cat Van commune is not effective. The Party Committee of the commune has also drawn profound experience in leadership and direction to have more effective solutions after land consolidation and exchange."

Farmers in Cam Son and Anh Son communes sow crops after land consolidation.

In Do Luong, there are still 6 communes that have not completed the field land allocation to farmers, mainly because the communes have not focused on leadership and direction; have not created a truly democratic and public atmosphere, creating discontent among the people, giving rise to many petitions. Among them, Giang Son Dong commune is the most complicated, currently there are still 15 households out of 83 households in Tay Xuan hamlet that have not agreed to receive field land.

The households' questions and petitions mainly revolved around the commune's land conversion which was not democratic, fair, and not in accordance with the original plan; the redistribution of land to the people of Tay Xuan hamlet was not satisfactory because the land was bad; the people petitioned to stop reducing the contracted output...

Currently, although people have not received land in the field, households are still producing on the rice fields that the commune has recovered under the plan to lend land for cultivation. Mr. Nguyen Trong Tuan - Chairman of the People's Committee of Giang Son Dong commune said: "To have a situation where some households in Tay Xuan hamlet have not received land until now, the commune at the time of conversion did not grasp the situation in time, did not forecast the situations correctly to be flexible in directing. Currently, the commune is coordinating with the district's Department of Natural Resources and Environment to review the land area, grasp the aspirations of the households to organize the final dialogue"...

The average land area of ​​Nghe An province before land consolidation and plot exchange was 986 m2, after land consolidation and plot exchange it was 1,811 m2, an increase of 1.84 times. The average number of plots per household before land consolidation and plot exchange was 5.4 plots, after land consolidation and plot exchange it was 2.3 plots, a decrease of 2.35 times. The whole province has 318,825 households participating in land consolidation and plot exchange.

(To be continued)
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