Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ speaks at the forum. — Photo baotainguyenmoitruong.vn

HÀ NỘI — Officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment have said land use management among agro-forestry companies is still ineffective.

At a forum held by the ministry in Hà Nội yesterday, a report by the General Department of Land Administration said although management over land originating from the agriculture and forestry sector had seen a lot of positive changes, many complex problems remain.

In 2014, the Government issued a decree on state-owned agriculture and forest companies to tackle ineffective forest land management by the firms.

State-owned agricultural and forest farms were forced to switch to company models and re-arrange their land funds previously allocated by the Government. Apart from the land they need to keep for their production, they were told to transfer the rest back to local authorities. 

In a review of 246 companies, the total amount of land transferred back to localities was found to be 460,000ha, with more than 1 million hectares still held by the companies.

The general department’s director, Lê Thanh Khuyến, said there were still many land dispute cases, among which there were complex disagreements between agro-forestry firms and local residents, with encroachment of agro-forestry land still occurring.

Such cases had not been solved properly and had seriously impacted the security and social order in some localities, he said.

Also because of such unsolved disputes, many locals, mainly ethnic minorities and migrants, were left with no stable means for making a living, Khuyến said.

Representatives from Hà Giang, Thanh Hoá and Đắk Nông provinces and some companies like Việt Nam Forestry Company, the Việt Nam Rubber Group, the Việt Nam Coffee Group and Vinacafe, said many companies were allocated land areas too huge for them to operate effectively.

At the forum, participants suggested there should be a breakthrough decision in land management and use, focusing on giving production land to permanent users and evaluating agro-foresty land use efficiency.

Authorities should also quickly make land allocations to local residents who lack production land to reduce land encroachment and disputes.

Deputy Prime Minister Vương Huệ said it was necessary to survey and mark land boundaries of agricultural and forestry farms, and to issue land use certificates to local residents.

He also ordered a re-examination of the land funds currently held by agriculture and forestry firms compared with their needs and production capacities.

He also said it was important to have innovative management and corporate governance models to improve the efficiency of agricultural and forestry land use. Huệ also emphasised the importance of forming concentrated production and raw material production areas.

Local authorities must bear responsibility for revoking illegally encroached land, he said. —VNS