Management and operation of irrigation pumping station system in An Nhon town: Many difficulties need to be resolved

Difficulties in management and operation, in the past, the exploitation of irrigation pumping stations in An Nhon town has not been maximized.

Revenue is not enough to cover expenses

Nhon Hau commune has more than 800 hectares of agricultural land (nearly 700 hectares of rice and 140 hectares of upland crops), irrigation depends entirely on 8 electric pumping stations managed by Nhon Hau Agricultural Cooperative, operated with 21 pumps. Mr. Tran Cong Danh, Director of Nhon Hau Agricultural Cooperative, shared: The old cooperative headquarters gave up land to build the commune police headquarters, so they had to borrow temporary work space. The biggest headache is the cost of operating the pumping stations. Every year, the cooperative has to spend over 1 billion VND on electricity, while the irrigation fee compensation is about 640 million VND. The problem of not being able to cover expenses happens frequently, sometimes having to borrow money from individuals to pay the electricity industry on time, if late, the electricity will be cut off. Not only that, most of the fields in Nhon Hau are much higher than the riverbed, pumping water consumes a lot of electricity. The pumps operate continuously, leading to skyrocketing costs. Many crop seasons, pumping stations have problems in the middle, and without money to repair them in time, people have to buy their own machines to pump water to save the rice fields!

Not only Nhon Hau, many other agricultural cooperatives in An Nhon town such as Nhon Thanh, Nhon My, Nhon Khanh ... also fell into a difficult situation when the cost of electricity for irrigation accounted for 87% of the total operating cost, in some places up to 100%. The irrigation compensation fund was not enough, forcing cooperatives to borrow money to pay the monthly electricity bill. Meanwhile, many local agricultural cooperatives said that An Nhon Electricity still required payment within the month of notification (usually on the 10th), if late, the power would be cut off, even during the peak irrigation season. It is worth mentioning that Clause 1, Article 63 of the Electricity Law 2004 allows for electricity used for agricultural irrigation and drainage, the maximum payment period is up to 120 days.

However, regarding this issue, Mr. Tran An Khuong, Director of An Nhon Electricity, said: "We only follow the electricity purchase contract signed between the Agricultural Cooperatives and Vietnam Electricity Group, based on the contract model and general regulations issued by the Group."

Revenues not being enough to cover expenses have made it difficult for Nhon Hau Agricultural Cooperative to maintain the operation of irrigation pumping stations. Photo: T.LOI

Not only is there a lack of operating funds, the infrastructure of electric pumping stations in many places has seriously degraded, while machinery and equipment are outdated and constantly broken. For example, the pumping station in Nhon Thuan area (Nhon Thanh ward). Mr. NVP, a local resident, said indignantly: “The station is constantly broken. There was a rice crop when water was needed the most, but the machine broke down, and people could not wait, so they had to spend their own money to buy small pumps and pipes to irrigate and save the rice. It is both difficult and costly!”

According to Mr. Phan Long Dung, Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of An Nhon Town, the town currently has 15 grassroots irrigation organizations, of which Nhon Hau, Nhon Thanh, and Nhon Khanh Agricultural Cooperatives are completely dependent on electric pumping stations. The rest use water from pumping stations managed by Binh Dinh Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited, or combine with proactive irrigation pumping measures. However, since 2014, the high prices of oil, electricity, and labor have made the policy of providing compensation and exemption for irrigation services at cooperatives difficult, falling into a situation of "making ends meet". The pumping stations are operating at a standstill, with prolonged damage. During the Summer-Autumn rice crop, when the heat is at its peak, the plants need water the most, but the stations cannot operate.

Please transfer?

Faced with the situation of many pumping stations operating inefficiently, many agricultural cooperatives have proposed transferring them to Binh Dinh Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited for direct management, operation and investment. Wishing to soon hand over the management and operation of irrigation pumping stations to the company to ensure production services for the people; Mr. Le Minh Tuan, Deputy Director of Nhon Khanh Agricultural Cooperative expressed: Due to insufficient revenue, the cooperative is having great difficulty in arranging funds to pay for electricity, an average of about 150 million VND/month, to maintain the operation of 8 electric pumping stations, providing irrigation water for more than 1,000 hectares of production land.

Machinery and equipment at pumping stations are old, outdated and often broken. Photo: T.LOI

Faced with this reality, the People's Committee of An Nhon Town has sent a document to the Department of Agriculture and Environment to report to the Provincial People's Committee for consideration and direction of the acceptance roadmap. In the immediate future, it is proposed to prioritize pumping stations that are seriously degraded and at risk of greatly affecting irrigation work. In the context of capital difficulties, the town proposes that the province support the pilot investment of 1-2 pumping stations in priority group 1 (out of a total of 9 electric pumping stations), as a basis for replicating the remaining stations. At the same time, it is proposed to issue a policy on designing a model pumping station similar to the policy on solidifying canals, in order to reduce investment costs and mobilize resources from the province to the commune, gradually improving the quality of the project.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tanh, Chairman and Director of Binh Dinh Irrigation Works Exploitation Company Limited, said that the company is ready to take over the management and operation of pumping stations if there is a need from the cooperatives, but only when there is direction from the Provincial People's Committee and the mechanism and policies are guaranteed to be suitable for practice.

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