Farmers must receive direct support from policies

The paradoxes remained

According to Dr. Duong Nam Ha, Faculty of Economics and Rural Development, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, farmers are the main agroproduction organizing workforce in Vietnam.

The number of farming households tends to decrease over time. The economic model of farming households is gradually changing to the form of the farm, thereby contributing to the development of agroproduction in the direction of commodities and product value enhancement. However, this trend is still slow and insignificant.

Farmers are the main subjects who are given agricultural land use rights, however the average land area in each household is still very small and scattered. Farming households contribute abundant labor resources to the development of rural economy, but the laborers’ qualifications and skills still have many limitations.

Farmers have taken an active stance in linkages for agroproduction and trade, but the links are still unfirm and ineffective. Another paradox is that the income of most farming households is still not high despite the significant contribution of farmers in the growth of Vietnam's agricultural sector.

Vietnam Farmer's Union comes out as an outstanding collective with their role of developing communities. They are an important factor to support and promote farmers’ mídset of self-reliance in the process of agriculture and rural development.

In the process of developing rural community and agriculture, Vietnam Farmer's Union will take part in gathering and building great solidarity among farmers; improving local people’s capacity; raising awareness and encouraging farmers to promote their ownership, implementing the Party's guidelines as well as the State's laws on “agriculture - countryside - farmers”; supporting farmers to develop agriculture and rural areas.

Farmers must be the policy’s direct subject

According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Cuong, Deputy Head, Economic Department, Central Committee of Vietnam Farmer's Union, the implementation of Resolution 26-NQ/TW of the 10th Party Central Committee on “agriculture - countryside - farmers” has achieved great results, but there are still many issues that need to be addressed.

“It can be clearly seen that the Party's Resolutions have affirmed the specific role of farmers in agriculture and rural development. But in reality, the role of farmers has not been properly promoted, not given due attention and appreciated," said Mr. Nguyen Tien Cuong.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam, faced with the requirements and pressures of the 4.0 Revolution and urgent market demands, policies to support farmers are currently facing many obstacles.

"Policies on agriculture on ‘agriculture - countryside - farmers’ are many, but we need to go deeply into each specific issue to be able to promote the role of farmers. So how should the policy of direct support for farmers be understood? They are policies concerning production, social security, and the management and administration of farmers' growing areas," said Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam.

In order to solidify his point of view, the Deputy Minister reiterated the negative impacts of African swine fever. When the epidemic broke out, those who suffered the most were farmers. Thus farmers at that time needed direct support policies so that they can maintain livestock production and production as well as not be pressured by competition and monopoly of the market.

The leader of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also stated that there are many other issues that require attention from policies such as agricultural security, agricultural insurance, labor protection, occupation and economic reservation.

The farmer classes have not been given adequate investment and attention to be able to play a specific role in the economy of “agriculture - countryside - farmers”. Among farmers in the countryside, especially households that excel in production and trade, it is clear that they are a core nucleus in production, cooperation and linkage, leading the rural investment areas to take a step higher. However, policies to encourage, promote and create conditions for good farming households to promote their ability to lead rural communities have not been fully promoted.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Cuong, Deputy Head, Economic Department, Central Committee of Vietnam Farmer's Union