Removing difficulties for farm economy

(Baonghean) - In recent years, the farm economy has promoted its potential and strengths in terms of land and labor, contributing to improving the efficiency of the agricultural and rural economy. However, for the farm economy to develop smoothly, it requires policy solutions from all levels and sectors.

Nghe An currently has 3,185 farms in many fields: cultivation, forestry, livestock, aquaculture, and mixed farms. Of these, 420 farms meet the criteria according to Circular 27/2011/TT-BNN of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and have been granted Farm Certificates; 2,765 farms meet the criteria according to the old regulations. In reality, although the Party and the State have many policies and guidelines, there are still many difficulties and barriers in implementation, especially in preferential loan procedures and granting of farm land use right certificates.

Model of livestock farm in Nghia Dong (Tan Ky).

Starting a business with nothing but a poor family, Tran Song Thanh in Nghia Binh commune (Nghia Dan) did not succumb to poverty, dared to think, dared to do, knew how to take advantage of and promote the available land advantages to develop a farm economy in the direction of VAC: Ponds for raising grass carp, zoning areas for raising commercial mussels and clams and planting forests. From this model, after deducting expenses, each year the income is over 200 million VND, contributing to creating jobs and regular income for 5 local workers, sometimes employing 20 workers during the crop season. To continue developing, Mr. Thanh researched preferential loan sources, however, up to now he has had to borrow capital from the People's Credit Fund with interest rates higher than the bank's interest rates, the contract value can only be borrowed under 100 million VND and must mortgage the Land Use Rights Certificate.

Mr. Thanh is currently investing in breeding buffaloes, but due to lack of capital, he initially raised only 6 buffaloes. Although breeding buffaloes is highly profitable, Mr. Thanh had to sell 2 buffaloes to get capital to expand the area of ​​1 hectare of oranges. He also plans to develop breeding buffaloes and grow Dien grapefruit for sale, but has not found the investment capital. “It has been more than 10 years since the farm was established, but I have not yet accessed any preferential loans. Last year, I was able to access the Economic Development Loan Project of the Nghia Dan District Labor Federation, but I was only able to borrow 47 million VND, without preferential interest rates and had to mortgage the land title, so I did not borrow. The advantage of Nghia Binh commune is that it has a large area of ​​hilly land, many young people in the commune have a direction to develop farm economy, but their biggest difficulty is capital, "difficulty limits intelligence" so many people cannot do it" - Mr. Thanh said.

With the will to get rich on his homeland, in 2004, Mr. Pham Van Tuan in Nghia Loc commune, Nghia Dan district boldly rented 16.5 hectares of vacant land and bare hills in My Loc hamlet - Nghia Loc to invest in developing the farm economy. Thanks to the local authority's long-term land lease (50 years and being granted a farm land use right certificate), Mr. Tuan invested in many different types of plants and animals according to market trends: raising porcupines, wild boars, pigeons, ducks, fish, planting forests... Total annual income is from 1.5 - 1.7 billion VND, creating jobs for over 5 regular workers and 20 - 30 seasonal workers. While developing the farm economy, he also opened a construction and commercial service company.

Pham Van Tuan is a typical example of good production and business in Nghia Dan district. In recent years, his family has invested over 2 billion VND in raising livestock and planting forests. To have capital to develop the farm, he had to use the Land Use Rights Certificate as collateral to borrow capital from the bank in the form of a construction enterprise, because the bank does not lend money to apply for a loan to develop the farm economy. Mr. Pham Van Tuan said: “Many policies have been issued but have not been put into practice, making it difficult for farm owners to access support policies. Because agricultural production often faces risks, banks are reluctant to lend to farm projects. Currently, I have the idea of ​​expanding production and business of raising pigs in an industrial direction, requiring an investment capital of over 1 billion VND. I have gone to banks and credit institutions to access preferential loans for farm development but have been rejected.”

Mr. Ngo Tri Ha's family in Son Thanh hamlet, Nam Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) reclaimed and restored 2.1 hectares of rice fields in Chang Lang area to make a farm since 1994. In 2014, Mr. Ha made a file and a contract to lease the land that his family reclaimed for a period of 10 years and paid full taxes to the locality. By the end of 2014, the land lease expired, and his family applied to continue leasing the above land area to make a farm, however, to date, it has not been approved by the local government. Since 2004, Mr. Ha's family has invested nearly 1 billion VND to invest in a fish and duck farm. Currently, Mr. Ha's farm still has 6,000 laying ducks. If he cannot continue to lease the land, his family will be forced to "disband" the farm. Developing a farm economy requires high investment costs, and it takes many years to have products to harvest. If land is leased for a short period of time, it is difficult for farm owners to promote high efficiency. Mr. Ngo Tri Ha said: “Because they are not granted long-term, stable land leases, many farm owners are not assured and do not dare to invest. We hope that the district needs to have a policy of long-term land lease and contract, and issue farm land use right certificates so that they can confidently invest in developing the farm economy in the long term. Borrowing capital requires collateral, but the farm land use right certificate, one of the conditions for mortgage, is not available, so it is impossible to borrow capital from the bank to invest in development.”

Identifying that developing farm economy contributes to the development of agriculture and rural areas, in recent times, the Party and the State have had many policies and guidelines to support the development of agriculture and rural areas. The Government issued Decree 41/2010 on "Credit policy for agricultural and rural development". Accordingly, farm owners are entitled to preferential loans for agricultural and rural development without collateral (the maximum amount can be up to 500 million VND) for households that have been certified for farm economy. This Decree also stipulates consistent policies to facilitate land allocation and grant of long-term and stable land use right certificates to farm owners. During the development process, farms in the province have received many mechanisms and policies on land, land allocation, forest allocation, agricultural extension, credit policies, etc. Decision No. 479/QD-UBND dated November 7, 2007 of the Provincial People's Committee on approving the project "Developing farm economy in Nghe An province for the period 2007 - 2015" is an important and specific document of Nghe An province to orient the province's farm economy to develop strongly.

In this project, the Provincial People's Committee mentioned the issue of integrating local programs and projects to support farm owners in building infrastructure. However, in reality, implementation is still slow, farm land is mainly leased, contracted, and auctioned. Because it is not leased and allocated for a long term, farm owners are not confident when investing on a large scale. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Binh - Chairman of the Provincial Farm Economics Association, “Since the mechanism and policies to encourage economic development were established, farm owners have proactively approached policies to consolidate and develop farms. However, through the process of approaching, there are still many barriers affecting the development of farm economics in the area. In particular, land allocation, land lease, transfer, and granting of land use right certificates to farms in many localities are still slow. Most of the land of many farms is still used in the form of temporary assignment, signing of contracts, and long-term leases in localities, with low legality, so farm owners are not really assured and are not bold enough to invest in long-term production. Banks and credit institutions are still hesitant when appraising and lending loans for agriculture and rural areas.”

Article and photos:Thanh Le