January 19, 2009
Farmers face testing times
Despite Government initiatives to improve life in the countryside, standards of rural living were still low, said director of the Institute for Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dang Kim Son.
Agriculture is not the direct beneficiary of economic development, Son said. “This is reasonable because economic growth taps industry and foreign investment rather than agriculture.” But while farmers contribute a lot in terms of the country’s exports, they are still not reaping the rewards, he said.
“There is still a big gap between urban and rural people in terms of literacy and school drop-outs.”
Gov’t efforts
Government efforts to ease the plight of farmers have had an effect, insists Tran Thi Que, a farmer in Vinh Thanh Commune in the central Nghe An Province’s Yen Thanh District. “My family earned about VND3 million (US$166) from this year’s spring-summer crop thanks to a recent policy on irrigation fee exemption and good weather,” the mother-of-three said. “But we still had to cover bills like contributing funds to commune’s People’s Committee to help build a kindergarten, roads and healthcare centres.”
These extra costs add up and put a lot of poor farmers off sending their children to school, the mother-of-three said. “Instead of forking out VND1.3 million per year on sending their kids to kindergarten, many parents simply bring their children with them to the paddy field.”
Rather than facing the hardship of a farming life, many young people leave the country to find work in the city, Que said. Others had to leave because of development projects.
Cost of development
Out of the country’s current 4.1 million ha of rice, more than 70,000 ha are swallowed up by development projects every year, according to a report by the Institute of Agriculture and Rural Development Policies.
But with few skills beyond agriculture, many farmers struggle to find another job. In Bac Ninh for example, only about six per cent of farmers have found a job after the province used their land to build industrial zones.
Tran Thi Luong in Hoang Van Thu Commune in northern Ha Tay Province’s Chuong My District said she was left unemployed after the provincial government revoked her family’s two ha of tea plantations to build the Van Son golf course.
“I received compensation to build a new house in resettlement areas two years ago. My family have been living off the money ever since then. I’m really worried about my future,” she said.
Luong was one of hundreds of farmers in the area who were forced to leave their land to make way for the 197ha golf course. Although they are desperate for jobs, employment fairs organised by provincial Department for Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs seek out already-trained labourers.
“I still haven’t been to an employment fair because it’s 50km far from my home and they always enrol trained labourers,” Luong said.
Hanoi is another area looking to re-employ rural labourers, especially those whose land was revoked. Hanoi People’s Committee recently intended to open a job exchange centre for landless farmers in the city’s outlying district, but it is yet to be put into action.
Deputy Director of the city’s Department for Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Do Thi Xuan Phuong said rural workers needed jobs urgently but help was being delayed because of lack of funds.
More problems
Among the many problems facing farmers were high fees, deputy Le Van Cuong from central Thanh Hoa Province said at the third session of the 12th National Assembly last month. Floods and storms in the province were exacerbating the plight of thousands of households who couldn’t afford to pay the fees, he said.
Supply and demand were also an issue. In a recent seminar held in HCM City, former chairman of An Giang Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Minh Nhi, said. The Government needed to address urgent problems facing farmers, including the supply of agricultural materials such as fertilisers, crop hybrids and pesticides, to boost productivity and quality.
Nhi said a comprehensive plan on agricultural production and restructuring was essential to increase farm product value and ensure a balance in supply and demand to avoid stockpiles during peak harvests.
Institute director Son said the industry needed to take responsibility for producing its own supplies. Presently, as much as 70 per cent of fertiliser and pesticides were exported, while half of agriculture products was supplied for export or taken to urban areas. “Rural areas are being exhausted,” he said.
The country needs to boost investment and create better conditions to lure more businesses to rural areas. Industry, services and urban areas have to take the lead in supporting and promoting agricultural progress.
