State ups agriculture investment

Farmers harvest rice in southern Tay Ninh Province. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - The State invested some 611 trillion VND (27.4 billion USD) in agriculture and rural areas during 2011-15, 1.83 times higher than the previous five-year period. 

This was revealed in a Government report on public investment in agriculture and rural areas. 

The report, presented to policymakers during the second session of the 14th National Assembly (NA), said the NA and the Government had many preferential policies for investment activities using funds from the State budget. They also called on investment from society for agriculture and rural development. 

From 2012 until today, the Government issued policies to enhance efficiency of public investment activities for agriculture and rural areas, including policies on encouraging development of enterprises' investment activities in the sectors and supporting them. 

Of the total 611 trillion VND invested in agriculture and rural areas during 2011-15, 221.5 trillion VND came into the agro, forestry and fisheries sector, while 389.5 trillion VND was used for development of socio-economic restructuring and poverty reduction. 

The capital for the National Target Programme on Building New Rural Areas during 2011-15 reached 851.4 trillion VND, including 266.8 trillion VND from the State budget, 435 trillion VND from credit, 42.2 trillion VND from enterprises and 107.4 trillion VND from people and the community. 

Credit for agriculture and rural areas gained an average growth rate of 20 percent per year in the period, higher than the credit growth rate of the economy at 18.5 percent, the report said. 

The total outstanding loan of the agriculture and rural sector by August 2016 reached 900 trillion VND. There were special credit programmes for re-cultivation of coffee trees, support for aquaculture, reduction of losses after exploitation of fisheries and the application of high technology for producing export products. 

Agriculture gained a growth rate in gross domestic production of 3.13 percent each year during 2011-15. The average income of rural residents reached 2.2 million VND per capita per month in 2015 and the percentage of poor rural households was reduced to 8.2 percent last year from 17.4 percent in 2011. 

However, the report highlighted the problem of high debt in capital construction, noting 53 out of 63 provinces and cities were bearing debt. Total debt of these localities reached 15.3 trillion VND (685 million USD) with some of them becoming insolvent. 

The report said rural infrastructure funding mainly came from the State budget, official development assistance and government bonds. Agriculture and rural areas have not mobilised much funds from people and the private economic sector because policies have been not attractive enough, while administrative procedures have been too complicated. 

Appraisement and supervision for efficiency after investment have not been paid enough attention, and there was not enough capital for maintaining construction after investment. 

The report recommended that the State enhance supervision for implementation of public investment policies for agriculture and rural areas to ensure the efficiency of the policies. 

The NA should complete institutional changes and policies on agriculture, farming and rural areas, and public investment for them to be turned into reality, it said.-VNA