Supervision of organizational structure and staffing at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghe An

Implement vigorously

Implementing the policy of the Central and the province, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has organized the restructuring of the apparatus. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has focused on leadership, direction, proactively developed plans and projects to reorganize the apparatus, streamline the payroll and restructure the staff, civil servants and public employees to achieve and exceed the set targets.

Accordingly, in the period from 2020 to 2022, the administrative agencies of the Department have sharply reduced internal organizations (Reducing departments, offices and equivalents), specifically: Reducing 53/127 departments, offices and equivalents, a reduction rate of 41.7% (of which the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine reduced 21 stations, the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection of the province reduced 21 stations, the Department of Rural Development reduced 6 departments, the Department of Forestry reduced 4 forest ranger stations).

At the same time, transfer 69 stations under the Department to the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to establish 21 district-level Agricultural Service Centers, overcoming the overlapping and duplication of functions and tasks.

Attending the meeting were comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council. Photo: Thanh Le

For public service units: Period from 2020 - 2022: Reduce 3/26 service units, rate 11.53% (1 unit due to merging Quy Hop Protective Forest Management Board into Pu Huong Nature Reserve and 2 Construction Investment Project Management Boards).

Internal organizations of public service units reduced 28/94 departments and equivalents, a reduction rate of 29.78% (Agricultural Extension Center reduced 21 stations, Plant Seed Center reduced 1 department, Agricultural Extension Center reduced 1 department, Livestock Seed Center reduced 1 department and 1 station, Center for Domestic Water and Rural Environmental Sanitation reduced 1 department).

Comrade Pham Thanh Chung - Head of the Provincial People's Council's Legal Committee, Head of the Supervisory Delegation discussed the objectives of the supervisory delegation. Photo: Thanh Le

In addition, there are 4 autonomous public service units in terms of regular expenditures: 3 Project Management Boards (Agriculture and Rural Development Project, Ban Mong Project, Agriculture and Rural Development Project) and 1 Forest Protection and Development Fund.

Regarding the structure of staff, civil servants and public employees, the administrative agencies of the Department have reduced 1 deputy director of the Department, 1 department head, 9 deputy department heads, 3 branch heads, 5 deputy branch heads, 59 department heads, 23 deputy department heads. Public service units: Reduce 3 department heads, reduce 1 deputy director, reduce 28 department heads and equivalents, reduce 13 deputy department heads.

Regarding streamlining the payroll, in the period 2015 - 2022, the entire Department has reduced 61 payrolls, from 612 people (2015) to 551 people (2021).

Comrade Vo Thi Nhung - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development discussed the implementation of the organization and apparatus of the industry. Photo: Thanh Le

There are still many shortcomings and problems

However, the implementation of restructuring the industry's apparatus has encountered many difficulties and obstacles. In particular, the Party's policies and legal regulations are still overlapping and inconsistent. The National Assembly, the Government, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have not promptly supplemented and revised regulations related to the apparatus organization, so in the implementation process, the application is still passive, confused, and sometimes lacks a legal basis.

According to comrade Nguyen Quoc Son - Head of the Department of Organization and Personnel, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the merger of district-level stations (Crop Cultivation and Plant Protection, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Agricultural Extension, Mountainous Rural Development Board) into the Agricultural Technical Service Center has many difficulties, because this is a new model and there are no specific guidelines from central agencies.

“In addition, after the merger, the State management function of these fields was transferred to the District People's Committee for management, so there are many shortcomings in capturing information, updating data, processing and directing. At the provincial level, only the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine and the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection have limited human resources, while the operating area is large and diverse in crops and livestock, making it very difficult to investigate, detect and handle epidemics,” Mr. Nguyen Quoc Son added.

Because the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is a multi-sectoral, multi-field management unit; in the process of management and direction, there are many issues related to agricultural production, therefore, many units lack human resources to carry out tasks when streamlining the payroll.

Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council spoke at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Le

Speaking at the meeting, comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh highly appreciated the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development as a unit with many affiliated public service units, operating in many sectors and fields, but has effectively implemented the work of reorganizing the apparatus according to the regulations of the Central and the province.

Emphasizing that the policy of restructuring the apparatus and labor contracts is the right policy and promoting efficiency. Therefore, the industry needs to be proactive, flexible, and pay attention to refer to good practices of other provinces to effectively implement the merger of affiliated public service units.

Members of the monitoring team. Photo: Thanh Le

The sector needs to consult on documents regulating functions and tasks, on that basis, rebuild the job position project in accordance with the functions and tasks of each agency and unit; select urgent key issues to focus on leading and directing. At the same time, do a good job of ideological work, thoughts, aspirations, and resolve regimes and policies for cadres, civil servants, and public employees.

“The workload is increasing while the number of people is decreasing, so the industry needs to focus on administrative reform and digital transformation to carry out professional tasks. Strengthen relationships with professional agencies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development located in the province” - Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh suggested.

Regarding the Department's proposals, the monitoring team will synthesize recommendations to competent authorities./.