Lacking resources, many communes in Hai Duong "forget" to invest in irrigation.

Many canal sections of the fields are silted up and overgrown with grass, hindering irrigation and drainage for production.

Out of capital

According to the plan, Minh Duc commune (Tu Ky) will reach the advanced new rural area goal this year. However, so far, the commune has only completed 10 out of 19 criteria of an advanced new rural commune. To become an advanced rural commune, the commune needs large resources for investment, but the commune budget is currently very limited. The locality still owes public investment from the previous period, so if there is funding, it must prioritize debt repayment. Many goals have not been completed, including the criteria for irrigation and natural disaster prevention.

Minh Duc is a large commune with an agricultural land area of ​​over 800 hectares, of which 680 hectares are specialized for rice. The canal system managed by the locality is nearly 80 km long, including 14 km of secondary canals, the rest are field canals. The proportion of solidified canals is low, built a long time ago, many sections are seriously degraded, so they cannot meet the agricultural production requirements of the people.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Manh, Chairman of Minh Duc Commune People's Committee admitted: "For many years, the locality has not had the resources to maintain irrigation works. The budget for maintenance and repair of small irrigation works and intra-field irrigation works all depends on irrigation fees. In addition, the requirement that the rate of local key crops using advanced and economical irrigation reach 15% or more is also very difficult to achieve."

All canals in Tien Tien commune managed by the locality are earthen canals, some sections are silted, causing difficulties in water regulation.

After review, Tien Tien commune (Hai Duong city) has completed the criteria for irrigation and natural disaster prevention. However, in reality, the local irrigation system still faces many difficulties. The entire nearly 50 km of canals managed by the locality are earthen canals, leading to prolonged regulation of irrigation water.

Mr. Hoang Van Lam, Director of Tien Tien Agricultural Service Cooperative said: "With an agricultural land area of ​​over 600 hectares, the cooperative receives about 300 million VND in irrigation fee compensation. This fund is used to pay salaries for cooperative staff, farmers and repair and dredge canals. Due to limited funds, while the entire irrigation system is made of earthen canals, many sections of the canals are silted, causing congestion and difficulty in regulating water." Therefore, the cooperative must "measure" to ensure irrigation and drainage for the entire agricultural production area of ​​the locality.

According to the assessment of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the small irrigation system and intra-field irrigation in Hai Duong has been formed for a long time. To ensure production in the new situation, it is necessary to continue to renovate, upgrade and improve to maintain and ensure the capacity of the project to respond to climate change. However, due to limited budget capacity, the Project on consolidating irrigation canals in Hai Duong province in the period of 2013-2020 has been approved but not implemented simultaneously, but only integrated the consolidating of irrigation canals into the National Target Program on New Rural Development. Meanwhile, local resources are still limited, so support for the development of small irrigation and intra-field irrigation has received little attention and investment.

"Tie the bear, patch the shoulder"

The pumping system of Minh Duc Agricultural Service Cooperative is old and difficult to operate.

For communes, irrigation fees are almost the only source for local investment in irrigation systems. “Tie to the bear, patch up the shoulder”, pulling and pulling is also the only way for localities to ensure irrigation and drainage for agricultural production areas.

Although it is only the beginning of the crop season, Minh Duc Agricultural Service Cooperative has had to spend 60 million VND to repair machinery, 20 million VND more than the unit's previous budget estimate. Previously, the cooperative was compensated with more than 700 million VND for irrigation fees, but now it only has more than 500 million VND. Of which, more than 400 million VND is for internal irrigation. The pumping stations managed by the cooperative were all built a long time ago and have exceeded their useful life, but the locality does not have funds for new investments. "Every time the crop season begins, the cooperative has to make all kinds of concessions to have funds to repair machinery, dredge canals, pay electricity bills, etc. As for the level 3 canal systems, the beneficiaries directly contribute to repair them, but the repairs are not done regularly," said Mr. Tran Ngoc Chan, Director of Minh Duc Agricultural Service Cooperative.

The set of criteria for advanced new rural communes in the 2021 - 2025 period includes 19 criteria with 74 indicators, many of which have increased compared to the previous set of criteria. The additional criteria for advanced new rural areas in the 2021 - 2025 period aim to build new rural areas in depth, so it requires a lot of time and investment resources. Meanwhile, the resources for implementing the advanced new rural criteria are mainly mobilized from local budgets and socialized resources among the people.

Criterion No. 3 on irrigation and natural disaster prevention and control is considered one of the essential criteria, because once this criterion is well implemented, it means that the locality has well met the production and living needs of rural people. However, When implementing, other criteria such as health, education, transportation, culture, etc. are often identified as urgent criteria that need investment to improve the material and spiritual life of the people. Irrigation and natural disaster prevention criteria have not received proper attention and investment from localities or have only been invested in a "patchwork" manner.

Irrigation is one of the criteria in the "Socio-economic infrastructure" group in the National Criteria for Advanced New Rural Communes for the 2021-2025 period, issued with Decision No. 1378/QD-UBND dated June 7, 2024 of the Provincial People's Committee. Accordingly, the proportion of agricultural land area that is actively irrigated and drained must reach 100%. There must be at least 1 irrigation organization operating effectively. The proportion of the area of ​​key local crops that are irrigated in an advanced and economical manner must reach 15% or more. 100% of small irrigation works and intra-field irrigation works are maintained annually...

Increase resources to invest in commune-level irrigation works.

The irrigation system of Hai Duong province developed early, widely and in large numbers. In recent years, many key works serving irrigation regulation have been built, creating favorable conditions for agricultural production and people's lives, contributing to limiting flooding and drought caused by natural disasters. Many pumping stations have been renovated, machinery and equipment upgraded. Many culverts and canal systems have been solidified, embanked, and the canal beds have been dredged, effectively serving production.

However, the current irrigation system managed by the locality is not synchronized with the large-scale irrigation systems and projects invested by the Central and provincial governments. Due to low investment, the service capacity is not high, many intra-field canals are still silted, have not been dredged, and have not been cleared of flow... Therefore, flooding or local water shortages still occur in some places, affecting and damaging farmers' crops and livestock.

To overcome this situation, localities need to review the current status of small irrigation works and intra-field irrigation works that have been decentralized for management and exploitation, especially intra-field canals. Consider balancing and arranging capital sources managed by district and commune levels to develop plans to dredging, maintaining and repairing degraded irrigation works with poor capacity. Increase socialization of investment in irrigation, mobilize contributions from organizations and households that benefit from the works to invest in maintaining, repairing and renovating intra-field irrigation works.

Nguyen Van Bot, General Director of Hai Duong Province Irrigation Works Exploitation One Member Co., Ltd.

It is necessary to flexibly evaluate the criterion of "main crops with advanced and economical irrigation".

In the construction of advanced new rural areas, Vinh Hung commune (Binh Giang) has identified the focus as developing small-scale industry. Therefore, the implementation of irrigation and disaster prevention criteria has encountered many difficulties. In particular, the target of "the proportion of the local main crop area with advanced and economical irrigation reaching 15% or more" is rigid and difficult to implement.

In many localities, rice is the main crop. This crop does not require advanced, economical irrigation. This form of irrigation is usually only applied to crops grown in greenhouses and net houses. In fact, many localities have created favorable conditions, calling for organizations and individuals to invest in developing high-tech agriculture but have not been successful. This investment requires large capital and long-term calculations. Especially for Vinh Hung, this target is very difficult to implement.

Therefore, when assessing the criteria for irrigation and natural disaster prevention, the relevant authorities need to base on the actual situation of the localities, consider the main crops to flexibly evaluate the implementation of this indicator. Investment must have a focus and key points to avoid wasting resources.

Vu Van He , Chairman of People's Council of Vinh Hung commune (Binh Giang)

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Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/thieu-nguon-luc-nhieu-xa-o-hai-duong-quen-dau-tu-cho-thuy-loi-389949.html