Public opinion on the 'fee' charged for combine harvesters in Yen Thanh district.

(Baonghean) - Faced with the situation of some individuals extorting money and extorting money from rice harvesting machine operators in Yen Thanh district, causing complications and public resentment, the communes in the district have adopted different approaches to prevent this. However, due to confusion in management, procedures have sometimes been not followed correctly. The People's Committee of Yen Thanh district has promptly directed localities to rectify the situation and learn from experience for the next rice crop season, with the determination to resolve this issue effectively.

According to reports from many farmers in Bac Thanh commune (Yen Thanh district), in previous rice harvests, combine harvesters entering the area had to go through "protection rackets," driving up harvesting prices to 200,000 - 220,000 VND per sao (a unit of land measurement). Particularly on September 1st, two individuals went directly to the fields demanding a "fee" of 20,000 VND per sao from combine harvester owners. These individuals were subsequently reported to the district police by the Bac Thanh commune People's Committee and arrested for questioning.

According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Bang, Head of the Bac Thanh Commune Police (Yen Thanh District), criminals are willing to scatter steel wire in the fields to destroy machinery if they are prevented from doing so. (Photo: PV)

In light of this situation, the People's Committee of the commune directed the commune's police to develop a commitment plan and temporarily collect 2 million VND per harvesting machine, assigning responsibility to the machine owners for protecting roads and bridges within the fields, at a rate of 160,000 VND per sao (a unit of land measurement). After the harvest is completed, the People's Committee of the commune will return the money as per the commitment.

Mr. Tran Danh Luong, Chairman of the Bac Thanh Commune People's Committee, acknowledged that the temporary collection of security deposits from citizens registering for harvesting machine services was unreasonable due to spontaneous management, causing public misunderstanding that the commune police were collecting "protection money." Following public feedback and directives from higher authorities, and recognizing the inadequacy, on September 7th, the Bac Thanh Commune People's Committee returned 38 million VND to 19 harvesting machines. Simultaneously, the commune continued to encourage the owners of the harvesting machines to ensure timely harvesting; and directed the police to provide security for the machines. Through this incident, the Bac Thanh Commune People's Committee, especially the Chairman, Vice Chairman, and the head of the commune police, will learn from this experience and create favorable conditions for harvesting machines to best serve the people.

In Yen Thanh town, the issue of extortion involving harvesting machines is quite serious. The perpetrators even send threatening messages to the town's People's Committee leaders. Mr. Phan Doan Huu, Chairman of the Yen Thanh Town People's Committee, said: Through meetings with voters and town council representatives, voters have requested measures to dismantle the extortion of harvesting machines by certain individuals.

The People's Committee of Yen Thanh town has issued an "economic contract" regarding the "harvesting of the 2016 summer-autumn rice crop". This is to avoid the previous situation where harvesting machines would enter the field and then abandon the work, only harvesting the easy areas and leaving the difficult ones unharvested for the people.

According to the contract, the combine harvester operators were required to pay 5 million VND to the Town People's Committee. After the harvest was completed and no breaches of contract were made, the Town People's Committee would reimburse the operators. Only 5 combine harvesters were used for 70 hectares of rice in the town, with a agreed price of 150,000 VND per sao (a unit of land measurement). If the operators failed to meet this price, the contract would not be signed. However, 3 operators demanded a higher price than 150,000 VND per sao, which the Town People's Committee refused, leading to a conflict.

After agreeing on the price and terms, five combine harvesters completed the harvest for the farmers. On September 17th, the People's Committee of Yen Thanh town fully reimbursed the five combine harvester owners. The People's Committee of the commune allocated funds to partially support the security forces during the production process, but did not keep the money collected as a guarantee.

However, according to Mr. Phan Doan Huu, Chairman of the Yen Thanh Town People's Committee, due to the protection racket involving harvesting machines affecting the people, the Yen Thanh Town People's Committee acted hastily in its management, leading to improper procedures. The Town People's Committee sincerely apologizes for this experience and proposes solutions for the next harvest season as follows: Since there is no agricultural service cooperative, the Town Agricultural Committee will coordinate with the hamlets, with the hamlets directly signing contracts with harvesting machine owners (prices agreed upon based on market rates) after obtaining the consensus of the people. The Town People's Committee will deploy the town's police force to support security measures to ensure the safety of the harvest.

Mr. Nguyen Vuong Ngoc, Vice Chairman of the Yen Thanh District People's Committee, added: The problem of "protection rackets" for harvesting machines became most prevalent during the 2016 winter-spring crop season. Thugs and middlemen set their own prices, forcing down the prices of harvesting machines. According to preliminary calculations, Yen Thanh district planted over 12,000 hectares in the 2016 spring crop season. Harvesting machine owners had to go through these "protection rackets," driving up prices to 200,000 - 250,000 VND per sao (a unit of land measurement). If the actual price were 140,000 - 160,000 VND per sao, then these "protection rackets" pocketed more than 2 billion VND from farmers each rice crop season.

Rice harvesting in Yen Thanh.

Mr. Nguyen Vuong Ngoc also acknowledged that, in order to rectify the problem of extortion involving harvesting machines, some communes independently collecting temporary security deposits for harvesting machines was incorrect and easily created negative public opinion. Immediately after the incident occurred, the Yen Thanh District People's Committee sent a document to the Chairman of the Bac Thanh Commune People's Committee on September 6th. It requested the Chairman of the Bac Thanh Commune People's Committee to direct the return of all funds collected from the harvesting machine owners before September 8th, and to seriously review the conduct of officials and individuals involved.

On September 12th, the People's Committee of Yen Thanh District continued to send a document to the Chairmen of the People's Committees of Yen Thanh Town and Nhan Thanh Commune to handle the reported issues related to the collection of security deposits from combine harvester owners. The Chairman of the People's Committee of the district also assigned the People's Committees of Yen Thanh Town and Nhan Thanh Commune to investigate, verify, and respond to the People's Committee of the district before September 30th.

Mr. Phan Van Tuyen, Chairman of the Yen Thanh District People's Committee, added: "Through this incident, the district has learned lessons in management. In the future, to bring rice harvesting machines into the area and speed up the harvesting process, the district will direct communes to assign management to cooperatives, based on proper procedures and with the consensus and support of cooperative members and the people. In fact, the agricultural service cooperatives managing this sector are in accordance with regulations."

If agricultural service cooperatives have weak capabilities, it is suggested that the Party Committee and the local government of the commune cooperate to help them operate more effectively. In particular, the Yen Thanh District Police should be directed to cooperate with the commune police to establish a special task force to investigate and strictly prosecute those involved in the "protection racket" of harvesting machines, setting an example for others.

Hai An