Consider irrigation fee support policies appropriate to the characteristics of each locality.

(Baonghean.vn)- Voters in Nghe An province proposed: In 2008, the Government issued Decree No. 115/2008/ND-CP on exemption of irrigation fees for farmers, helping farmers reduce costs for agricultural production. However, for communes in semi-mountainous and highland areas with large terraced fields, people have to buy their own pumps to pump water, which is very expensive but they do not benefit from irrigation fee support. It is recommended that this be considered to ensure benefits for rice farmers in semi-mountainous and highland areas.

Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Finance responded as follows:

On September 10, 2012, the Government issued Decree No. 67/2012/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 143/2003/ND-CP dated November 28, 2003 detailing a number of articles of the Ordinance on exploitation and protection of irrigation works (replacing Decree No. 115/2008/ND-CP dated November 14, 2008 of the Government).

Irrigation canal in Chau Hong commune (Quy Hop), documentary photo

According to the provisions of Decree No. 67/2012/ND-CP of the Government, the subjects exempted from and compensated for irrigation fees are irrigation works built according to planning (regardless of capital invested by the State budget or capital from outside the budget).

The scope of exemption from irrigation fees is calculated from the head culvert location of the water user cooperative to the headworks of the irrigation project.

The Bau Coc intra-field canal section of Nghia Phuc commune (Tan Ky) was repaired with irrigation fee compensation, photo courtesy

According to the above regulations, for rice fields in semi-mountainous and mountainous communes, if there is no provincial irrigation system, there is not enough basis to determine that they are exempt from irrigation fees.

People of Tam Dinh commune, Tuong Duong dredge canals, archive photo

To ensure benefits for rice growers in semi-mountainous and mountainous areas with large terraced fields, the Ministry of Finance would like to take note of voters' recommendations to coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the People's Committees of provinces and relevant ministries and branches to review and propose policies to support agricultural production (including irrigation fee support) suitable to the characteristics of the area to help people reduce agricultural production costs.

PV (Synthesis)