People investing in building agricultural farms will receive 50% of the construction costs from the state, with the highest support level being 2 billion VND, along with some other supports, according to a draft decree that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is seeking comments on before submitting it to the Government for consideration and promulgation.

The second batch of cows at Tan Ky Australian cattle farm. Photo: PV

On April 5, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had a working session with a number of departments and branches to listen to reports on the draft Decree/Decision on farm policy before completing the final steps to submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.

According to the draft Decree on policies to encourage farm economic development being put forward by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for comments, the State will provide financial support to farm owners. Specifically, farm owners will be leased land for a long-term period and will receive one-time support under the project for 50% of the cost of road construction and electricity system construction with a support level of up to 2 billion VND/farm.

In addition, farm owners are also supported with 50% of the cost of hiring technical staff, technology transfer and production techniques equivalent to 100 million VND/farm in the first two years, 100% support for VietGap certification fees (Good Agricultural Practices), 50% of the cost of attending fairs...

For aquaculture farms, the state budget will provide one-time support equal to 30% of the cost of constructing wastewater treatment facilities and settling ponds, equivalent to 300 million VND. As for aquaculture farms at sea, they will receive 50% support for cage costs.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the reason for this support is that currently, most farm owners are farmers, not professionally trained in management and techniques, so their ability to manage production, apply science and technology, and link agricultural product consumption is limited. Therefore, for large farms, the average value of commodity production is only about 2 billion VND/hectare, focusing on livestock and aquaculture, while other types of farms such as crop cultivation, forestry, and general business have low production value...

Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show that there are currently 29,500 farms nationwide, of which crop farms account for 29%, livestock farms account for 32%, aquaculture accounts for nearly 18%, and the rest are other farm models such as forestry and general. The largest concentration of farms is in the Mekong Delta provinces, accounting for 30%, mainly producing aquatic products and fruits, and the Southeast region with 6,115 farms, equivalent to 21%, of which the majority are livestock farms.

According to the Dong Nai Livestock Association, the province with the largest pig herd in the country with 1.5 million pigs (in 2015), nearly 69% of the pork supply to the market comes from farms. Currently, Dong Nai has 2,200 pig farms.

However, there are still some pig farms in residential areas and to ensure environmental issues, according to current regulations, these farms must move to areas far from residential areas, but the farms cannot move because the cost of building infrastructure, electricity, and roads is quite expensive. Therefore, the Government's support program will help Dong Nai move the above farms to more convenient places far from residential areas.

TBKTSG Online