Hanoi Agricultural Promotion Fund: Supporting the development of the capital's agriculture

Farmers lack capital for production

Mr. Le Dinh Binh's household in Dong Yen commune (Quoc Oai district) is currently developing a model of raising hill chickens with a farm scale of more than 1,000 chickens. His family really wants to apply technology to production, but has not been able to do so due to lack of capital. To build a closed-scale barn with a cooling system, automatic feeding troughs... requires capital of about 700 - 800 million VND, which is not a small amount for households. Therefore, the family has only invested in part, building closed barns to prevent epidemics.

A delegation from the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development surveyed a safe vegetable production area in Van Duc commune, Gia Lam district. Photo: Ngoc Anh

Expressing concerns about investment capital and expanding production scale, Director of Van Duc Agricultural Service Cooperative (Gia Lam district) Nguyen Van Minh shared: in recent years, the cooperative has regularly received support from the Hanoi agricultural sector and Gia Lam district in training production techniques for members. However, to continue to effectively maintain the production and business of 250 hectares of safe vegetables, the cooperative recommends that the City, Gia Lam District People's Committee, and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development continue to support the issue of accessing preferential loans and removing obstacles in renting agricultural land.

Having worked with farmers for many years, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy - an agricultural extension officer at the Agricultural Service Center of Dong Anh district, said that the biggest difficulty for many households in Dong Anh district is that they do not meet the conditions according to the regulations on the management of the Hanoi Agricultural Extension Fund, which requires borrowers to have a minimum agricultural land lease contract of 2 years or more. Meanwhile, Dong Anh district is in the process of strong urbanization; the local government only allows signing short-term agricultural land lease contracts (1 year) due to planning problems.

Actual surveys show that applying high technology to production (livestock, cultivation, aquaculture) is the goal that many districts strive for to increase efficiency in agricultural economic development. However, the replication of high technology application models in localities is still limited, because high technology agricultural production requires large capital and land funds, causing farmers and cooperatives to not dare to invest long-term.

Preferential capital for farmers

Director of Hanoi Agricultural Extension Center Vu Thi Huong said that recently, many farming households and cooperatives have been able to access loans from the City Agricultural Extension Fund by mortgaging assets (Land Use Rights Certificates) of individuals or members participating in the cooperative's management board.

A high-tech egg-laying chicken farm in Dong Anh district. Photo: Ngoc Anh

Regarding loans to develop production in association with credit institutions, according to Resolution No. 08/2023/NQ-HDN of the Hanoi People's Council, which stipulates a number of policies to encourage agricultural development, the City has clearly stated: The City will support loan interest rates of credit institutions for a period of 3 years, corresponding to the disbursement progress. This interest rate is paid according to the loan contract between the borrowing unit and the lending unit.

Regarding the land fund for production, according to Ms. Vu Thi Huong, this is a separate issue in all districts in the city. In particular, the most prominent is the term of agricultural land lease contracts between farmers and farm owners signed with the locality to build farm models, which was previously regulated to be 5 years, but has been shortened to 1 year.

To facilitate and encourage farmers and cooperatives to develop production, the Land Law 2024 and the Capital Law 2024, which are about to be implemented, will certainly resolve the shortcomings and obstacles related to land lease contracts between households and cooperatives with localities. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will continue to advise the City People's Committee to issue specific guidance documents to localities and people.

The leader of the Hanoi Agricultural Extension Center also emphasized that the center was assigned by the City and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to manage the Agricultural Extension Fund, an important source of capital to support farmers and cooperatives in borrowing to develop production. If cooperatives and farmers need to access this source of capital, they can contact the district-level Agricultural Service Centers. The local agricultural extension team will provide detailed instructions on the loan process, ensuring that the support is implemented in accordance with regulations and effectively, contributing to promoting the development of the capital's agriculture in a modern and sustainable direction.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/quy-khuyen-nong-ha-noi-tiep-suc-cho-nong-nghiep-thu-do-phat-trien.html