Stable price of harvester service in Nghe An

In Ngoc Son commune (Thanh Chuong) alone, there are currently 9-10 harvesters operating in the fields. Photo: TP

In recent days, people in Ngoc Son commune (Thanh Chuong) have entered the harvest season. In each field, there are 2-3 harvesters serving the people. The price of each sao of harvester is 200,000 VND, equivalent to the price of previous years.

“Although this season, people all want to speed up the harvest to sow in the summer and fall, and “steal” the sun to dry the rice, fortunately there is no shortage of harvesters. Partly because the rice fields have not yet ripened at the same time, many harvesters have arrived from everywhere, and partly because the management of harvesters is stricter, so there is no brokering, protection, or price fixing of harvesters,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Hieu, a farmer with a field in Lam Hong (Ngoc Son commune).

Despite the "peak farming season", there is no shortage of harvesters. Photo: TP

In previous years, during the "peak farming season", some people in Dien Thai (Dien Chau) had to "run after" harvesters to harvest on time, so even though the rice was only 70-80% ripe, it had to be harvested, resulting in a decrease in productivity and quality. Therefore, from the beginning of the 2024 Spring rice harvest, the locality worked directly with the Cooperative, the harvester owners agreed on prices, and at the same time strictly managed the operation of harvesters in the area.

Ms. Dinh Thi Trang - Vice Chairman of Dien Thai Commune People's Committee said: "The whole commune has 368 hectares of spring rice in the harvest season. Currently, there are 9 harvesters in operation in Dien Thai fields. Most of the harvesters were contacted by the people themselves. However, when the machines came to operate in the fields of the commune, they were approved by the commune, made a commitment on price, committed to harvest all the people's fields, not abandoning the fields halfway. During the operation of the machines, they did not disrupt security and order, did not damage irrigation works, if damaged, they must be repaired and compensated. At the same time, every day, the commune assigned staff to go to the fields to check and monitor the harvesters, and announced a hotline for people to report on the harvester service".

Harvesters operate strictly under local management, so people have an advantage in the harvesting process. Photo: TP

Thanks to good management, although after the storm in early May, a large area of ​​rice in Dien Thai fell and the fields sank, the machine owners still committed to only charging 200,000 VND/sao like the dry fields and "standing rice" fields.

For deep, muddy fields with fallen rice, the harvest price remains at 200,000 VND/sao. Photo: TP

“In previous years, the machine owner would charge a higher price of 30,000-50,000 VND for each sao of fallen rice, but this year, the price is only 200,000 VND like other fields. I am really excited,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Long, a farmer in Dien Thai commune.

In the Spring crop of 2023, in Nam Giang (Nam Dan), there was a situation of "brokers" harvesting machines, so people had great difficulty renting machines, the harvesting price was also higher and because of dependence on "brokers", they chose dry fields, flat fields to harvest, and before finishing harvesting in one area, they left for another...

This year, the commune has also established functional organizations to manage harvesters in the fields. Accordingly, harvester owners who come to provide services in Nam Giang must register for temporary residence (for owners who come from far away), sign a price commitment, and commit to harvest each field to avoid local harvester shortages...

When returning to their localities, the harvester teams strictly registered for temporary residence and committed to the contents with the commune. Photo: TP

“We have just started the harvest season, but we are quite assured that the harvesters are evenly distributed and the prices have been agreed upon in advance. Therefore, we do not have to worry about a shortage of machines or have to chase after machines like last year,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi An, a resident of Nam Giang.

Bringing 2 harvesters from Hai Hau ( Nam Dinh ) to Nghe An to work, Mr. Tran Hoc Phi and his team of assistants contacted localities with large rice fields to bring the machines to the fields. Previously, he had to work through machine brokers. In addition to paying commissions to the brokers, each sao was from 30,000 to 50,000 VND, his team of workers was also subject to the brokers' regulation on which field to harvest first, who to harvest first, sometimes before one field was finished, they had to move to another field.

In the fields, harvesters have been arranged more reasonably, and local shortages have not occurred. Photo: TP

“Indeed, going through brokers is very disadvantageous. When we travel, we waste more fuel. Brokers “fix prices” with people, so the harvest price is high. People are upset because they choose fields to harvest. Now, the management of harvesters has been tightened. We work directly with hamlets and cooperatives, so the work is convenient and the price is stable, ranging from 180,000 to 200,000 VND/sao,” said Mr. Phi.

In the 2024 Spring crop, the whole province planted 90,904.8 hectares of rice. Currently, the rice is starting to ripen, and farmers are focusing on human resources to speed up the harvest progress, in order to produce the Summer-Autumn crop in time. And the most important thing that determines the harvest progress is the operation of the harvester. To ensure the harvest progress of the people, especially to prevent the situation of taking advantage of increased demand to raise prices, squeeze prices and protect the harvester, local authorities and the police force are resolutely implementing many plans.

Entering the harvest season, localities publicly announced the management of harvesters, prices and hotline numbers. Photo: TP

In addition to the proactive involvement of localities and the police, farmers must promptly inform when there is a situation of excessively high prices or protection of harvesters so that local authorities and functional forces can promptly intervene and handle the situation.

Source: https://baonghean.vn/gia-dich-vu-gat-may-o-nghe-an-binh-on-post288861.html