Vietnam: Farmers Expect Irrigational Fee Exemption Next Year

The Ministry of Finance October 1 submitted a project exempting farmers in agricultural, forestry and fisheries sectors from irrigational fees to the Government, Labor daily newspaper reported Oct. 3, expecting that the project will be ratified soon and come into effect early next year.

 

The project is aimed to lighten burden on farmers who have had to pay as many as 122 categories of taxes.

 

According to a recent survey, irrigational fees account for 70 per cent of total agricultural fees that farmers in the Red River Delta have to pay. The rate is 40 per cent in the Mekong Delta and 80 per cent in the central coastal region.

 

Nguyen Dai Lai, deputy head of Strategies Department, said irrigational fees are indeed load on local farmers but they have not been used in the right place.

 

In 2006, Vietnam collected more than VND900 million (US$56.25 million) from irrigational fees while total outstanding loan of irrigational fees nationwide reaching VND377 billion.

 

Local experts said that Vietnam has invested as many as VND57.7 trillion (US$3.6 billion) in irrigational works over the past three years. However, the works are reported to run ineffectively due to weak management

 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said to exempt irrigational fees for farmers, the Government will have to deduct VND1 trillion more from state’s budget for irrigational activities. (Labor)