Farmers await "support"

(Baonghean) - The historic drought in early June 2015 caused thousands of hectares of corn to die, thousands of hectares of rice seedlings to be discarded, 1,964 hectares of tea plants to suffer leaf burn, nearly 700 hectares of tea plants to die completely, 104 hectares of clams to die, and dozens of hectares of shrimp farms to also be wiped out.

Peanuts, lemons, vegetables... all have suffered crop failures. The damage caused by the drought is immense, leaving many farmers penniless. Many villages face the risk of food shortages in the next harvest season. However, farmers have yet to receive support from disaster relief policies, from corn and rice seeds to financial assistance. According to representatives from the agricultural sector, the reason is that while the policy is in place, they are still waiting for villages, communes, and districts to compile and submit lists of affected farmers.

The truth is not entirely like that, because not only during this natural disaster, but in almost all crop failures throughout history, from storms and droughts to tornadoes, farmers have been waiting anxiously for support policies, not just for months, but year after year. If they lose their spring crop this year, they are not guaranteed support for the spring crop next year. This delay has become a chronic problem, a chain reaction where one place blames another, and that place passes the buck to the next. Higher levels blame lower levels, while lower levels claim they are waiting for approval from higher levels. Why does compiling damage statistics take so long? We know that village-level officials usually don't type documents but compile statistics by hand. Could this be why, when it reaches the commune level, commune officials are reluctant to type, causing the "hot" list to be delayed even longer?

Then, going to the district, they say there's too much work and they need to wait. Then going to the provincial department, there's even more work: livestock farming, crop cultivation, forestry, rural development, irrigation, fisheries, plans, seasonal schedules, reports... Each level "delays" the process for a longer time, until it goes to the "distribution" side, and they wait even longer, and wait even longer... So, it's a total delay, not just at the village level. That's why disaster relief policies for farmers are also dragged out until farmers... no longer need it, even though they've already taken matters into their own hands to manage their crops and production, making the land compensate for losses. Therefore, the money and rice they need most don't arrive, and by the time they receive it, it has lost much of its meaning. At times like these, if only the relevant levels of government and localities were more proactive, the difficulties faced by farmers would be alleviated.

Pearl.