Nghe An: Many policies to 'support' farmers
(Baonghean) - Implementing the policy to support agricultural development in Nghe An has encouraged farmers to invest in production and increase value on the same cultivated area. During the implementation process, there have been a number of models applying modern technology to agricultural production, bringing new motivation.
POLICY TO SUPPORT FARMERS
Decision No. 15/QD-UB dated March 30, 2018 of the Provincial People's Committee (Decision 15) replaces Decision No. 87/2014-QD with new points, continuing to promote agricultural development in the province. Decision 15 supports people to buy rice transplanters and sugarcane harvesters; at the same time, more than 10 billion VND is arranged to pay off outstanding debts arising from previous mechanization support.
In the first months of 2019, two households in Thai Hoa town registered for support of VND800 million to buy sugarcane harvesting machines worth VND4 billion. A household in Nghia Dan district requested support of VND100 million to buy agricultural transplanters. In Hung Nguyen, farm owner Le Quoc Tan in Hung Tien commune received support of VND300 million to renovate the livestock wastewater treatment system.
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| Thanks to the mechanization support policy, Dien An farmers have multi-function harvesters to harvest rice. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
In some other districts and towns, policies to support the development of tea and fruit trees (new varieties of oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, guava, etc.), support new sugarcane varieties and irrigation policies for upland crops have also been implemented, contributing to increasing crop area and productivity.
At the same time, the province has also increased the support for newly established agricultural cooperatives from 20 million VND/cooperative (in 2018) to 50 million VND. Up to now, the province has supported 2.5 billion VND for 50 newly established agricultural cooperatives. In addition, the province continues to allocate the budget to support breeds, support households raising 50 or more foreign pigs; allocate a total budget of about 2 billion VND to support a total of about 40 greenhouse models...
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| The Dutch melon greenhouse model of over 1,200 m2 of Mr. Nguyen Van Long in Binh Son hamlet, Hung Tien commune (Nam Dan) is undergoing support procedures. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Despite the difficult budget conditions, the province spends over 80 billion VND each year to support agriculture. Agricultural support policies are increasingly being improved as every 3-4 year cycle, through practical assessment, the province supplements policies in the direction of prioritizing large-scale, productive and efficient production models.
At the same time, to encourage farmers, in addition to the provincial budget, some districts such as Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Nghia Dan, Yen Thanh, Thai Hoa town also allocate a budget of 700 to 1 billion VND per year to support new models in the agricultural sector, especially high-tech greenhouse models or fruit trees with high economic value. Although the budget is still modest compared to the investment of farmers, these are truly valuable resources to support and encourage farmers to confidently increase investment in agricultural production.
PROMOTING VALUABLE SUPPORT RESOURCES
The agricultural support policy under Decision 15/QD-UB has many positive new points, but the actual implementation process also reveals some concerns. That is: Although the province's expectations are quite high when increasing the support level from 20 million VND to 50 million VND for cooperatives to rise up to play the role of intermediary, providing services to farmers; but the fact that too many agricultural cooperatives have been established in a short time, in which there are communes with up to 3 newly established cooperatives receiving support, is something that needs to be considered in terms of operational efficiency.
Not only that, the emergence of too many cooperatives makes support policies continue to be passive.
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| Providing fertilizer to farmers in Dien Lien commune (Dien Chau). Photo: Thanh Phuc |
The policy to support multi-function harvesters has excited people, but demand has reached saturation and the province no longer supports them. Now switching to transplanters is not suitable because there are no cooperatives to make seedlings. As for the policy to support high-tech agriculture, the province stipulates that it only supports 50,000 VND/m2 of greenhouse and the support condition is that the model must be over 1,000 m2, which is low compared to the investment level of the people.
In addition, to support agriculture, the province also has a policy to support and overcome and mitigate natural disasters according to Decision 48/2017/QD-UB. The purpose of the emergency support policy is to help farmers restore production and overcome the consequences immediately after natural disasters and epidemics.
However, the payment of support for damage and natural disaster mitigation is too slow (usually at the earliest after 1 year of occurrence). This is a worrying reality when the declaration of damage caused by natural disasters and floods from the grassroots level and the appraisal process takes a lot of time and the procedures are complicated. At the same time, balancing the budget and contingency reserve funds of the province is still difficult...
Every policy of the government at all levels when implemented in practice always has certain shortcomings. The urgent issue is that departments, branches and localities need to actively accompany farmers and from reality to research, synthesize and propose to the province to adjust policies to support production development appropriately and effectively. That will actively contribute to helping farmers increase production value and make the best use of valuable support resources from all levels and branches.
