Public opinion on 'charging' harvesters in Yen Thanh district

(Baonghean) - Faced with the situation of some subjects "protecting" and "making laws" for harvesters in Yen Thanh district, causing complications and frustration among the people, communes in the district have had different ways to prevent it. However, due to confusion in management, there were times and places where procedures were not followed. Yen Thanh district People's Committee promptly directed localities to rectify and learn from experience for the next rice crop with the determination to resolve this issue well.

According to the reflection of many farmers in Bac Thanh commune (Yen Thanh). In previous rice harvests, harvesters had to go through "protection" subjects, the harvest price increased from 200,000 - 220,000 VND/sao. Especially on September 1, 2 subjects went to the fields directly to demand the machine owners to pay a "fee" of 20,000 VND/sao. These subjects were reported by the People's Committee of Bac Thanh commune to the district police to arrest and bring them in for settlement.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Bang - Head of Bac Thanh Commune Police (Yen Thanh) said that bad guys are ready to spread steel bars in the fields to destroy machines if they are prevented. Photo: PV

Faced with that situation, the Commune People's Committee directed the Commune Police to develop a plan to commit to temporarily collecting 2 million VND/harvester, assigning responsibility to the harvester owners for protecting traffic and internal bridges, at a price of 160,000 VND/sao. After the harvest is completed, the Commune People's Committee will return the above amount as committed.

Mr. Tran Danh Luong - Chairman of Bac Thanh Commune People's Committee admitted: Due to spontaneous management, the temporary collection of bail money from citizens registering for harvester service is unreasonable, causing public misunderstanding that the Commune Police collect "protection" money. Immediately after public opinion reflected and there was direction from above, realizing the inadequacy, on September 7, Bac Thanh Commune People's Committee returned 38 million VND to 19 harvesters. At the same time, the commune continued to encourage the owners of rice harvesters to ensure the harvest season; directed the police to protect the security of the harvesters... Through the incident, Bac Thanh Commune People's Committee, especially the Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Chief of Commune Police, will draw profound experience in directing and creating favorable conditions for the harvesters to best serve the people...

In Yen Thanh town, the situation of protecting harvesters is also quite painful. The subjects also texted and threatened the leaders of the town People's Committee. Mr. Phan Doan Huu - Chairman of Yen Thanh town People's Committee said: Through meetings with voters and the town People's Council delegates, voters have proposed to eradicate the problem of protecting harvesters by some subjects.

On the side of Yen Thanh town People's Committee, an "economic contract" on "summer-autumn rice harvest 2016" was issued. In order to avoid the previous "protection" situation, the harvesters came in and then left unfinished, only harvesting the easy areas, not harvesting the difficult areas for the people.

According to the contract, the harvester must pay 5 million VND to the Town People's Committee. After the harvest contract is completed and the terms are not violated, the Town People's Committee will pay back the harvester owners. The town's 70 hectares of rice are only put into 5 machines, with an agreed price of only 150,000 VND/sao. If the machine owners do not comply, the contract will not be signed. Of these, 3 machines asked for a price higher than 150,000 VND/sao, which was not accepted by the Town People's Committee, leading to a "collision".

After agreeing on the price and terms, the 5 harvesters have finished harvesting rice for the people. On September 17, the People's Committee of Yen Thanh town returned the full amount to the 5 harvester owners. The Commune People's Committee allocated the budget to partially support the security forces during the production process, not taking the above-mentioned guarantee money.

However, according to Mr. Phan Doan Huu - Chairman of Yen Thanh Town People's Committee, due to the harvester protectionism affecting the people, Yen Thanh Town People's Committee was hasty in management leading to incorrect procedures. The Town People's Committee would like to draw profound lessons and propose solutions for the next harvest such as: Due to the lack of agricultural service cooperatives, the Town Agriculture Board will coordinate with hamlets, directly through hamlets signing contracts with harvester owners (prices agreed upon with market prices) on the basis of obtaining consensus from the people. The Town People's Committee will mobilize the Town Police force to support security work to ensure the harvest.

Mr. Nguyen Vuong Ngoc - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee added: The problem of "protection" of harvesters appeared most strongly since the winter-spring crop of 2016, when thugs and brokers set prices and forced prices to control harvesters. According to preliminary calculations, Yen Thanh district planted the spring crop of 2016 on 12,000 hectares, harvester owners had to go through "brokers" to protect harvesters, so the price increased from 200,000 - 250,000 VND/sao. If the real price is 140,000 - 160,000 VND/sao, then each rice crop, the "protection" subjects pocketed more than 2 billion VND from farmers.

Harvesting rice in Yen Thanh.

Mr. Nguyen Vuong Ngoc also admitted that in order to rectify the harvester protection problem, some communes have organized to temporarily collect harvester guarantee money, which is not correct and can easily create negative public opinion. Immediately after the incident occurred, the People's Committee of Yen Thanh district sent an official dispatch to the Chairman of the People's Committee of Bac Thanh commune on September 6. Requesting the Chairman of the People's Committee of Bac Thanh commune to direct the refund of all collected fees from harvester owners before September 8, and seriously review the officials and related parties.

On September 12, the People's Committee of Yen Thanh district continued to send an official dispatch to the Chairman of the People's Committee of the town and the People's Committee of Nhan Thanh commune to handle the cases reported in the press related to the issue of collecting guarantee money from harvester owners. The Chairman of the People's Committee of the district also assigned the People's Committee of Yen Thanh town and the People's Committee of Nhan Thanh commune to inspect, verify and respond to the People's Committee of the district before September 30.

Mr. Phan Van Tuyen - Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee added: Through the above incident, the district has learned experience in management. In the coming time, to bring rice harvesters into the area to speed up the harvest progress, the district has directed the communes to assign management to cooperatives, on the basis of operating in accordance with the process agreed and supported by the commune members and people. In fact, the agricultural service cooperative's management of this field is in accordance with regulations.

If the agricultural service cooperatives are weak in capacity, it is recommended that the Party Committee and the communal government coordinate to help the agricultural service cooperatives operate better. In particular, direct the Yen Thanh District Police to coordinate with the communal police to establish a project to "protect" harvesters, from there investigate, clarify and strictly handle them before the law to set an example for others.

Hai An