Land accumulation: Still lacking enterprises in the fields

(Baonghean) - According to the report of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the whole province currently has 456,755 households producing agriculture, forestry and fishery with the main method of household production; this is really a big obstacle in developing a large-scale commodity production.

Nghia Dong - Tan Ky pioneered in land conversion and bringing mechanization into production.

Directive No. 08-CT/TU dated May 8, 2012 of the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee on promoting the mobilization of farmers to consolidate and exchange plots and encourage land accumulation to develop large-scale production in agriculture has received positive responses from local people and achieved very high results; however, land accumulation for large-scale commodity production associated with value chains is still limited when household economy still accounts for the majority.

Therefore, encouraging land accumulation to develop large-scale production in agriculture associated with linking production according to product value chains is an inevitable development trend in the coming period, affirming the leading role of enterprises in the chain.

In recent times, the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development have created the best conditions for businesses, households and individuals to invest in agricultural production such as: TH Food Chain Joint Stock Company, Vinamilk, Phu Quy High-Tech Company...

Farmers in Tan Ky district cooperate with Vinamilk Company to consume cow's milk products. Photo: Chau Lan

Pioneering localities

Nghia Dong is a midland mountainous commune, located in the North of Tan Ky district, with a total natural area of ​​1,704 hectares, of which agricultural land is 936 hectares. The commune currently has 2,050 households, with about 9,300 people, distributed into 15 hamlets. Nghia Dong has pioneered in converting land, accumulating small plots into large plots in an efficient and synchronous manner. The fields in Nghia Dong commune have been renovated, invested in large roads, convenient for transport vehicles and mechanical machinery to travel. Currently, the large field in Nghia Dong commune is more than 1,500 square meters, and other households basically have only one plot per house. Sugarcane growing land and colored land also have one plot per house.

After converting the land, Nghia Dong farmers invested heavily in mechanization with nearly 50 machines, mainly tractors to cultivate rice and sugarcane fields. The commune has changed the structure of seedlings, brought sugarcane to the fields, and moved the farm to the fields. Currently, there are large sugarcane fields of 50 hectares in hamlets 3, 4a, 4b, with a yield of over 80 tons/ha.

Secretary of Nghia Dong Commune Party Committee - Mr. Ngo Xuan Nghia said: "After converting the land, the plots have become larger but many households still want to rent more land to work, agricultural production is more effective when there are machines and large land, so although there is a great need to accumulate land, people do not want to transfer or rent land. Many families lack labor and have difficulty producing while some households have a great need for production but lack land. Currently, relatives give and transfer to each other mainly."

The effect after conversion in Nghia Dong commune is that all irrigation water is proactively ensured by canals, thanks to which rice yields are 20% higher than before, reaching about 7 tons/ha (previously only 50 tons/ha). The convenient internal transportation system means that after harvesting, the machines can be brought home immediately. In addition, thanks to proactive water sources, farmers produce NA2 and NA6 rice - rice varieties with high economic value and easy to consume.

Recently, Nghia Dong commune was honored to have President Tran Dai Quang visit, talk and praise the economic models in the commune. According to the commune's report, with the economic growth rate of Nghia Dong commune reaching 9%/year, the average income per capita reached 28 million VND/year; the poverty rate decreased to only 2.7%. The President also welcomed the people of Nghia Dong commune for quickly applying scientific and technological advances, good experiences in agricultural production and livestock breeding to enrich themselves, notably the household of Mr. Ngo Xuan Ngoan, in hamlet 10, Nghia Dong commune, with a scale of 70 pigs, earning more than 2 billion VND/year.

Ky Tan Commune (Tan Ky) is also a locality that has done well in land conversion. Before the conversion, each household had 5-7 plots of fertile land, alluvial land, and fragmented hills, mainly market holes, making conversion very difficult; therefore, the commune focused on directing, currently 7/10 hamlets have done very well in converting, consolidating, exchanging plots, planning roads, and irrigation systems, each household only had 1-2 plots of rice land that were favorable for production. Alluvial land and fertile areas also had only 1 household per plot. After the land conversion, production efficiency in Ky Tan Commune was significantly increased, with rice productivity 10% higher than before. The whole commune has nearly 30 plows and a number of combine harvesters.

Farmers in Hung Nguyen district apply tray seedling technique to machine transplant rice on a large scale. Photo: Chau Lan

In Nghi Van commune (Nghi Loc), land conversion is also very effective when each household only has one plot, and mechanization is "in" all stages of production.

In Dien Chau district, Dien Hong commune has created long, continuous farm areas; in Dien Truong commune, after converting land, some farmers have rented more land for large-scale production of dozens of hectares of corn to sell to TH Milk Factory, and producers have a larger profit per crop of 50-60 million VND compared to before; such as Mr. Chu Van Phong and Mr. Ho Trong Mao's households, renting land to grow up to 300 sao of corn...

Other districts such as Yen Thanh, Hung Nguyen, Quynh Luu, Anh Son... also performed well in land consolidation and plot exchange.

Statistics show that: The average land area of ​​Nghe An province before land consolidation and plot exchange was 986m2, after land consolidation and plot exchange was 1,811m2, an increase of 1.84 times; the average number of plots per household before land consolidation and plot exchange was 5.4, after land consolidation and plot exchange was 2.3, a decrease of 2.35 times. The whole province has 318,825 households participating in land consolidation and plot exchange.

"Absence" of businesses in the fields

Through land accumulation in Nghe An, it has shown that there are differences in the number of plots, planning, product productivity as well as travel and transportation of goods in the fields. The production method has also changed when mechanized machinery has actively participated in the stages from land preparation, planting, plowing, harvesting, threshing, and transportation. However, the big problem is still the "output" for the products. The combination of "4 houses", especially with enterprises in production, building value chains, and linkage chains in production is still unclear, especially the sustainability in the fields has not been seen.

Every season, there are often businesses that come to invest in rice varieties and promise to buy all the products in the fields, but most of the time the cooperation ends after the season. In fact, some businesses only borrow land from people to "hold seminars" and promote their rice varieties and then move to other localities. In general, from rice plants, like peanuts, chili, carrots... businesses are experimenting and "hiding" a goal different from the desired needs of farmers.

When linking businesses, they promise to buy rice at 10-20% higher than the market price, but to continue production in the next crop, we have to wait for time to respond. Therefore, in many reports of communes that have reached the new rural finish line, they all show a reality that the linkage is not sustainable or is being established. Currently, farmers' agricultural products, except for corn, sugarcane, cassava, tea, and cow's milk, are mostly very difficult to sell. People have to sell them themselves at the market, serve livestock, or depend entirely on traders.

One difficulty for businesses investing in agriculture is the lack of land; businesses often have to rent, borrow and be passive. Farmers almost do not want to lose ownership of their land, so most of them do not accept land reclamation or transfer. Some high-tech businesses are almost "stuck" when they cannot rent land at a reasonable price or have to buy it back at a very high price, causing costs to increase. That is the reality for some businesses such as Tam Nguyen, A Chau, Vinh Hoa...

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Lap - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the coming time, the Department will focus on implementing key tasks including encouraging land accumulation to develop large-scale production in agriculture; effectively implementing Directive No. 07-CT/TU dated December 6, 2016 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee on promoting the restructuring of the agricultural sector of Nghe An province towards increasing added value and sustainable development, period 2016 - 2020.

At the same time, implementing support policies of the Central and the province to create motivation for sustainable agricultural production development such as: Policies to encourage the development of cooperation, linking production with agricultural product consumption, building large fields. Promoting the application and transfer of scientific and technological advances, especially high technology in agricultural production to improve productivity, product quality, and reduce production costs. Consolidating and developing cooperative economy, promoting the development of farm economic models, effectively implementing the 2012 Law on Cooperatives, and increasing investment attraction in rural agriculture.

Chau Lan