Hanoi (VNA) – Party General Secretary To Lam on October 3 chaired a working session with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to review the reorganisation of public service units tasked with agricultural extension as the country is running a two-tier local administration model.
According to a report by the Ministry of Home Affairs, each locality has now reorganised one public service unit under its Department of Agriculture and Environment to carry out agricultural extension tasks. In addition to the functions and duties stipulated in the Government’s Decree 83/2018/ND-CP, these units have also been assigned extra responsibilities in agriculture such as plant protection, veterinary services, and quality management of agro-forestry-fishery products. A total of 1,763 agricultural extension officers are currently working at provincial-level centres.
Across the country, 24 out of 34 provinces and cities have established regional agricultural extension stations managed by provincial centres; three have set up regional farming service stations under their Departments of Agriculture and Environment; and two have such stations managed by commune-level People’s Committees. After restructuring, Vietnam now has 324 regional extension stations with 4,518 officers.
In his remarks, the Party chief stressed that one of the biggest challenges at the commune level is personnel. The Politburo has required localities to allocate and arrange sufficient specialised staff before October 15 this year.
He underlined that agricultural extension is a key responsibility of commune-level authorities, with each commune to have two extension officers. At the provincial level, the centres will remain responsible mainly for guidance, coordination, supervision, and support to communes.
The Party leader requested urgent consolidation of the extension system from the provincial to the communal level, removing unnecessary intermediaries to ensure consistency, smooth coordination, and effective regular operations. He called for properly arranging agricultural specialists among commune-level civil servants.
He further urged strengthening the agricultural extension apparatus under the two-tier local administration model, selecting qualified staff to both carry out state management functions and deliver extension services at the grassroots level./.
