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City farmers lose land, revenue to reclamation
The loss of farmland, the environmental pollution and a dearth of market outlets for farm produce came to the fore as HCM City farmers gave vent to their deep anxieties last Sunday.
The farmers were speaking at the monthly "Talk and Act" meeting organised to bring local authorities and residents together and address the latter’s concerns.
Speaking at the meeting held in Cu Chi District, Le Minh Tan, chairman of the Cu Chi District People’s Committee, acknowledged that the reclaiming of land for industrial parks had left many farmers bereft of their most vital production resource.
The district has 320,000 farmers, but the rate of those with idle time between harvests is as high as 55 per cent.
Tran Van Them, a resident of the district’s Phuoc Hiep Commune, said many farmers in his neighbourhood had stopped farming on their fields after the place was zoned to become a residential area.
"These farmers have to live on money borrowed from the bank, while they wait for their compensation".
The city now has 116,000 ha of agricultural land, mainly in the five outlying districts of Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh, Nha Be and Can Gio.
Duong Van Nhan, deputy chairman of the HCM City Farmers Association, said rapid urbanisation had severely affected agricultural production in the districts.
"More and more agricultural land are left idle because of suspended zoning plans," Nhan said.
Pham Phuong Thao, chairwoman of the municipal People’s Council, said the city had a policy to scale down the development of industrial parks and golf courses to save land for agricultural production.
Residents also raised their deep concern about environmental pollution and how it had affected agricultural production.
Farmer Truong Van Sam of Binh My Commune, said productivity in his village had fallen because of environmental pollution caused by nearby companies.
"Earlier, one ha of land in my village could produce 6-10 tonnes, but this has dropped to 3-4 tonnes as the companies release waste water directly into the environment."
Most canals and rivers in Cu Chi District were polluted with the wastewater released by factories, and this had adversely affected agricultural production, several farmers noted.
The meeting also heard that farmers were finding it difficult to find a stable market for farm produce while the prices of inputs increased sharply.
Vo Thanh Phong, a representative of the Tien Phong Pig Rearing Co-operative, said it was difficult to find a stable outlet for the co-operatives’ pigs as the price of live pigs had fallen.
"If the co-operative sells at a low price, it will suffer losses," he said.
Tu Minh Thien, director of the Agricultural Consulting and Supporting Centre under the city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the city’s farms could only meet 30 per cent of the city’s demand so there was no need to fear about outlets for their produce.
"Supermarkets are willing to buy farm produce from farmers, but the question is whether or not individual farmers or farm co-operatives can supply produce of the quality and quantity required," Thien said.
He advised individual farmers and farm co-operatives to co-operate with each other to ensure stable quality and quantity of their produce.
This would assure them of stable markets for their produce, he said.
VNN
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