Creating a big rice field - Part 2: The big field gradually gets smaller

0 Despite its great effectiveness, from 2020 to now, the area of ​​large-scale fields (CLD) in the Mekong Delta has not been expanded, and is even gradually shrinking. This situation is due to the fact that the State does not have a mechanism or policy to support capital; local Party committees, authorities, and cooperatives have not been able to gather many farmers to participate in large-scale production, and have not been able to link farmers with enterprises; the connection between entities in the production chain is still loose and easily "broken"...

Many places cannot produce on a large scale.

Can Tho is one of the localities that implemented the rice production model according to the CĐL model the earliest in the Mekong Delta. In the early years of implementation, the area increased every year. However, in recent years, the CĐL has not been expanded. Currently, this locality only maintains 136 CĐLs with a total area of ​​about 35,000 hectares (accounting for about 40% of the total sown area), mainly concentrated in Vinh Thanh, Co Do, and Thoi Lai districts. Not only has it not been expanded, in many localities in the Mekong Delta, the CĐL area is gradually shrinking, even being... "terminated". For example, in Thoi Binh, the leading district in rice production according to the CĐL model in Ca Mau province in the early years of implementation; at one point, the total CĐL area in this locality was expanded to more than 2,000 hectares, but now it has returned to zero (there are no more farmers or enterprises participating in production).

According to Mr. Tran Thai Nghiem, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Can Tho City, there are many reasons, but mainly because many communes and hamlets do not have cooperatives, have few cooperatives, or have cooperatives but they do not operate effectively due to lack of potential (weak level of cooperative members, lack of capital ...), and cannot mobilize and gather farmers to participate in large-scale production. Mr. Nghiem added: Of the 35,000 hectares of rice produced according to the current CĐL model in Can Tho, only about 15,000 hectares are stable thanks to cooperatives. For the remaining area, the production linkage between farmers and enterprises often has to go through "brokers". When the price of rice fluctuates, "brokers" raise the selling price, or reduce the buying price to earn more profit, easily causing the production linkage chain to be "broken".

Loosely coupled

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Bao, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Thoi Binh district (Ca Mau), when participating in the cooperative, farmers and enterprises sign a production contract - product consumption but the content is mainly for guidance, not an economic contract, and the legality is not high. This lack of strictness leads to the fact that when rice prices increase, farmers "break the contract", sell to traders, not to enterprises. When rice prices decrease sharply, enterprises see no profit, "throw away" responsibility in business cooperation, forfeit deposits, and do not consume output for farmers. Moreover, when disputes occur, there is no specific corridor or legal framework to sanction and resolve satisfactorily. Gradually, farmers and enterprises lose confidence and do not participate in production according to the cooperative model.

The representative of the Thoi Binh District People's Committee added that the unsustainable linkage in chain production partly comes from the "business and seasonal" mindset of enterprises. Specifically, when entering the winter-spring crop (rice crop with good quality), enterprises take the opportunity to sign contracts with farmers, but when it comes to the summer-autumn crop (rice with lower quality), enterprises... "hide".

In fact, the production chain has been "broken" due to loose and tight linkages in many localities. For example, in Dong Thap, Mr. Nguyen Van Banh, Manager of Plot No. 10 (Binh Hang Trung Commune, Cao Lanh District), said that he and many other farmers in this production group had just had their contracts "broken" by a rice company in An Giang, leading to a large loss in the 2023 winter-spring rice crop. In the contract, the production company promised to purchase all rice output on an area of ​​10,000 hectares, buy at market price at the end of the season and support an additional 200 VND/kg. The local government also pledged to support 30% of the cost of fertilizer and pesticides.

“We carried out all the production processes, from the rice variety identified as Dai Thom 8, to the amount of pesticides and fertilizers used, as per the contract, but at the end of the season, the company cited many objective reasons and did not purchase. To reduce losses, farmers had to sell rice to traders at low prices,” said Mr. Banh. After the rice crop, due to losing confidence in the company, the local government also stopped supporting 30% of the cost of production materials, so farmers in this locality returned to traditional production methods.

Not only does it "break" the production chain, the loose and uncoordinated connection between farmers and businesses also leads to "heartbreaking stories" and farmers are always the ones who suffer. Recalling the 2013 winter-spring crop in Tan Hung commune, Long Phu district, Soc Trang province, Mr. Phan Thanh Phuoc, Secretary of Tan Lich hamlet (Tan Hung commune), was still disappointed: “In that rice crop, when the “rice broker” - a reputable local resident - introduced and had traders join in production and purchase rice in large quantities, many local farmers were excited to participate. At the end of the crop, when the farmers finished harvesting, the trader came to weigh the rice and transport it away, promising to pay the full amount after a few days with the reason that they were waiting for a foreign rice import partner to provide capital. Trusting the “rice broker”, the farmers gave them credit, but the trader… left immediately. Nearly 2 billion VND of the people “went down the drain”. After the above “trick”, many farmers no longer had enough confidence to participate in rice production under the cooperative when many enterprises came to discuss production linkage”.

Difficult to maintain and expand due to lack of capital

According to the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the Government stipulates that rice is a conditional export industry, according to which enterprises must have raw material areas, drying systems, temporary storage warehouses, etc., and then auction them to foreign markets for export. In reality, most enterprises participating in production under the cooperative model have not yet met all the conditions due to lack of investment capital. "There are not enough means of transportation, drying equipment, and warehouses, so the harvested rice must be gathered at the shore for 4-5 days to be collected. Some rice areas are 7-10 days past the harvest date before being cut, affecting productivity as well as quality," said a representative of the Department of Crop Production. To overcome this difficulty, many enterprises need to borrow capital, but the State does not have a preferential loan policy. Currently, banks only lend to rice enterprises for normal rice export, but not for implementing the chain production linkage model.

Statistics from some provinces in the Mekong Delta show that the rate of successful contracts in production under the cooperative model between farmers and enterprises is only about 20%-30%.

Mr. Pham Thai Binh, General Director of Trung An High-Tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company, shared that in 2017, the company implemented a project to produce rice according to the CĐL model on an area of ​​800 hectares in Hon Dat district, Kien Giang province. “The project was approved by the People's Committee of Kien Giang province. All procedures and documents related to the project to find credit sources have been completed by the company. However, when knocking on the doors of many banks, they all "shook their heads". Not only this project, up to now, no CĐL project of the company has been granted a loan by a bank, even though it meets all the conditions”. According to Mr. Binh, that is the reason why the number of enterprises participating in rice production according to the CĐL model in the Mekong Delta can currently be counted on the fingers.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Tuan, Director of Ngoc Viet Agricultural Company Limited, acknowledged that the profits of enterprises participating in cooperatives are very large, however, after more than ten years of implementing this model, the number of enterprises is gradually "falling away". The enterprises that are still "surviving" are mainly large enterprises and corporations thanks to their sufficient economic potential, not having to borrow from banks, if any, they have to mortgage their available assets, but very few. "Although we really want to, we cannot link production, place orders and consume products with farmers. Currently, the company only buys rice through traders, then processes it for export. This method makes it difficult to bring rice to demanding markets, and the profits are not high, but there is no other way, because the company does not have enough capital to participate in production according to cooperatives", Mr. Tuan shared.

Large Field Area after 12 years of implementation

2011: more than 7,800ha 6,400 households (participated)

7-2014: 146,000ha

7-2015: 430,000ha

7-2016: 579,300ha 620,000 households

7-2018: 380,000ha

7-2020: 271,000ha 326,340 households

From 2021 to present, it is estimated that there are more than 100,000 hectares left.

Synthesis: VAN PHUC; Graphics: QUANG SON

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/tao-suc-bat-canh-dong-lua-lon-bai-2-canh-dong-lon-nho-dan-post688005.html