Like Tan Hung Commune, it took nearly two years (from 2008 to late 2009) for Dai Thang Commune in Phu Xuyen District to complete the restructuring of agricultural land and each household has only one large plot for cultivating. Pham Van Hung, Chairman of Dai Thang Commune People’s Committee, said that the biggest difficulty in restructuring agricultural land was that the farmers wanted to retain traditional farming methods and they were worried about the injustice of re-dividing the land. On the other hand, the households who had rice paddies in a better geographical location did not support the programme. The commune had to mobilize, popularize and persuade the local farmers to support the programme as it relates directly to their interests. Furthermore, it also retained the ratio of land to person as regulated 1993, shifted the low fields into the areas for implementing the model incorporating a piece of land containing an orchard, a pond and an animal raising area, also known as the garden-pond-pigsty model abbreviated in Vietnamese as VAC. These cautious and suitable measures helped create a new face for the commune. At present, the commune has nearly 200ha of high quality rice production areas and 53ha of low agricultural land for the garden-pond-pigsty model. Thanks to the implementation of the programme and the shift of plant and animal structure, the income of local farmers has increased, reaching about 200-300 million VND/ha, after expenses.

According to Le Thiet Cuong, Head of Hanoi’s Rural Development Department, the successful implementation of the restructuring of agricultural land would increase the production value through programmes and projects on applying science, technique and mechanization to production. It would provide favourbale conditions for the locality to implement the rural planning, build basic facilities and reserve part of the redundant land for other purposes to mobilize resources for new rural development.

THE DETERMINATION OF HANOI’S AUTHORITY

Hanoi has 19 districts and towns with 401 communes and a total agricultural land of 93,556.8ha that need to be restructured. Aware of the benefits of land restructuring, in 1998 Hanoi People’s Committee issued documents on the production promotion based on turning small fields into larger ones together with the land use planning and granting farmers a land-use licence. However, the programme has not been implemented well in Hanoi with a high rate of households having 4-5 plots. On average, each household has 10-12 plots and there are those who have 30-40 plots, each covering 150m2 or only 5-7m2. The small scale fields have limited the development of the agricultural sector and have not encouraged farmers to invest in intensive cultivation and shift the plant structure. After 14 years, Hanoi has planned 36,202.59ha out of 93,556.8ha, reaching 38,70%.
 

Nguyen Cong Soai, Deputy Permanent Secretary of Hanoi Party’s Committee, Head of the Steering Board for Programme 02 on Agricultural Development and New Rural Construction and Improving the Living Standards of Local People in Hanoi, ordered to further boost the implementation of the programme and make sure that each household has only 1-2 large plots. In the future Hanoi should mobilize the whole political system to engage in the programme and continue mobilizing farmers in the localities that have carried out the movement well to apply advanced technique and mechanization to agricultural production and shift the plant structure. The relevant departments and sectors should build a mechanism to support the programme and build ditches and irrigation canals. When the restructuring of agricultural land is completed, Hanoi will focus on planning large scale fields. For the redundant land, Hanoi will research and invest in building infrastructure to serve agricultural production.