The Vietnam Farmers’ Association kindly proposes that the State rapidly amend the Land Law to extend both the land allocation term and the to-be allocated land area limit for the sake of both farmers and the country in general, said Nguyen Quoc Cuong, chairman of the Association.
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The case in which farmer Doan Van Vuon acted violently against Hai Phong City’s Tien Lang District authorities’ decision to withdraw more than 40 hectares of land allocated to his family in 1993 was a clear example of the inadequacies in prevailing regulations on land allocation, Cuong said.
In fact, 80 percent of the land-related complaints have arisen from the conflict between state management and the need of land for use by farmers, which has mainly been seen in land withdrawal, as in Vuon’s case, he said.
In 1993, Vuon was allocated unused land of more than 40 hectares, on which he developed his aquaculture business, but he was allowed by the district to use it for only 14 years, while under the law, the allocation term for agricultural land must be 20 years.
“Why 14 years? What were the local authorities basing the land allocation decision with such a term on?” Cuong said, adding that the authorities were wrong both in the limit of allocated land area and the allocation term.
However, in our opinion, as well as that of the general public and some central-level officials, even the 20-year term is not enough time for farmers to build sustainable agricultural production, since nearly half of the period will be spent on initial investment and the rest will be not enough for a long-term development strategy, he said.
“With such a term, land users are unlikely feel secure in investing in agriculture.
Therefore, at a meeting with the Party General Secretary last September, the association reported such issues to him, and recently, it has reported the same to the Prime Minister, who will likely work with us in the near future.
“We will continue reporting to the Prime Minister about issues related to land allocation terms and to-be allocated land area limits so that the Government considers amendments to the law,” he said.
“We believe that when the law is revised, such issues will be among the amendments.”
The association leader also answered some questions from Tuoi Tre.
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Nguyen Thi Thuong, Vuon's wife, looks at the debris of her house that was demolished following the forced removal by Tien Lang District authorities on January 5, 2012 (Photo: VnExpress)
What is the association’s proposal that the land allocation term should be extended to 50 years, and even 70 years based on?
We have suggested that the term should be at least 50-70 years, In fact, we don’t have a professional agency to determine how many years will be reasonable, but we know for sure that 20 years is short.
Former minister of natural resources and environment, Dang Hung Vo, has even said the term should be as long as 99 years.
In all other countries we have visited, none of them applies a term as short as in Vietnam. Most of them allocate land to their farmers either without a term or for a 99-year term.
However, how long a term should be applied in Vietnam will depend on calculation by competent agencies.
In your opinion, can Vietnam adopt a policy of land allocation without a term?
Applying such a policy in Vietnam will be fraught with ownership relationship issues, since according to the country’s Constitution, ownership of the land belongs to the entire people, is put under the State’s management, and is allocated to people for use only.
Therefore, if a lot of land is allocated to people without a term, then this land will no longer be under the State’s ownership. In the other words, such a move means that the public ownership system in terms of land will not exist anymore and that a private ownership regime will take shape.
However, there have been some opinions that in China, some types of land have permanently allocated to people while other types remain under the State’s ownership.
This issue should be discussed more, since every country has its own conditions.
