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Farmers ignore State loan scheme
Fear of red tape, bureaucracy has scared farmers away from soft loan programmes
Farmers are largely shunning a Government scheme to help rural workers buy agricultural machinery and construction materials.
Under Decision 497/QD-TTg issued on April 19 by the Prime Minister, farmers can qualify for soft loans from commercial banks, which are interest free for the first 12 months. Farmers can also borrow money at 4 per cent interest to buy fertiliser, pesticides and construction materials, repayable over 24 months.
However, according to a bank report, few rural workers have taken advantage of the scheme.
The Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development in Central Highland Gia Lai Province said it has handed out loans worth VND17.5 billion (US$980,000) to rural workers this year, including VND3.1 billion ($173,600) under the Government’s subsidised scheme.
Only 12 interested
Nguyen Thi Suu, a credit official at the bank in Ha Noi’s Tay Tuu commune, said just 12 farmers had taken advantage of the scheme to borrow VND250 million to expand flower production. However, none had taken out loans to buy building materials.
Southern Dong Nai province reported that just six farmers had registered for the scheme.
Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Vinh Phuc province, said the programme had not been promoted sufficiently in rural areas.
"Local authorities are now actively speeding up information dissemination through the mass media and workshops. However, no one seems particularly interested, even though local farmers need loans to expand agricultural production," he said.
He also said loan procedures were too complicated.
"To get interest rate support for their loans, farmers need to meet many requirements such as having assets to put up as security. They also have to buy products from certain shops that have registered for the scheme," he said.
Nguyen Van Thien, a farmer in southern Long An province, said he wanted to borrow money to buy fertiliser and to hire contractors but that he had been put off by the complexity of the Government scheme.
"As a farmer, I am not particularly good at paper work so I decided not to get a loan," he said.
Thanh added that another scheme to provide loans for farmers had been enthusiastically received.
"Meanwhile, another policy of local authorities to directly provide farmers with VND2 million ($111) for purchasing machinery has attracted a lot of attention," he said.
Under the Government’s subsidised-interest loan scheme, farmers must buy locally made products. They must also state how they intend to use the loans.
"Farmers often use made-in-China agricultural machinery, which is cheap and easy to operate," said Dinh Thi Lan, a farmer in Dai Dong Commune, Vinh Phuc province.
In order to make it easier for farmers to apply for loans, the Government should simplify the scheme, Thanh said.
VietNamNet, VietNamNews
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