Urbanisation leaves HCM City farmers with no land to cultivate

VietNamNet Bridge – The threat of poverty looms for more and more farmers on the outskirts of HCM City who are being forced off of their lands because of rapid urbanisation.

Farmers till the soil before planting vegetables in Tan Phu Trung Commune in HCM City’s Cu Chi District. Farmers on the outskirts of HCM City are being forced off of their land by rapid urbanisation.

Duong Van Nhan, director of the HCM City Farmers’ Association’s Farmers Supporting Centre, said a recent survey found the farmers left with virtually no land to cultivate either because their lands had been acquired for the city’s projects or pollution among other reasons.

He admitted some farmers sold their lands just to lay their hands on a large amount of money.

But whatever the reason, they did not know how to invest their money wisely or learn other skills, he said.

Most farmers in some parts of Binh Tan District, for instance, have again become poor 10 years after they sold their land when the urbanisation ‘fad’ first appeared. Some now rent houses on the very plots they used to own, he said.

He called for assistance for farmers whose lands were acquired by helping them switch to alternative jobs.

Abandon ship

Sau Tri, a farmer in District 12, blamed the acquisition of cultivable lands and environmental pollution for many farmers turning their backs on agriculture.

The pollution means harvests have shrunk and are “only enough to feed poultry”.

Pointing to a deserted rice field in Hoc Mon District’s Dong Thanh Commune, he said it had turned fallow since being reclaimed in 2003 for an 18ha residential project by Thanh Phat House Trading and Commercial Construction Co.

Some farmers who have already received the money for their land have moved out while those yet to get the money have stayed back and manage to survive by planting rice.

Nguyen Van Hoi, 70, whose land was taken over for construction of the Tan Phu Trung Industrial Park, said the once-verdant land stretching hundreds of hectares on which three generations of his family had grown rice has remained uncultivated for years.

“Thanks to growing rice here, I could provide my three children decent education,” he said. “Since the land was earmarked for the IP, life has become so hard.”

Farmers are also leaving behind rice-growing land because of pollution.

Do Van Cam, the last farmer to move out of his land in the area between Districts 12 and Hoc Mon near Tran Quang Co irrigation canal, said the canal used to help farmers grow rice well but, after becoming polluted, has infiltrated into the fields and destroyed rice crops.

The canal is now allegedly filled with untreated wastewater from nearby pig and cow farms and from the Tan Thoi Hiep Industrial Park.

Can said most farmers have moved to other places, renting out their land to migrants to grow vegetables.

A similar situation is occurring in the area between Cu Chi and Hoc Mon Districts where the Thay Cai canal flows.

Nguyen Van Hue, chairman of Hoc Mon District Farmers’ Association, said: “It is heart-rending to see fallow rice fields along the canal because of its pollution.”

The suburbs have lost vast areas of paddy fields after effluents from factories contaminated the groundwater, he added.

Easy money

Nguyen Van Hoi, who refused to sell his land to the Tan Phu Trung IP in Cu Chi District, said: “Farmers should not be greedy for the compensation and leave their farmlands since many farming households gradually lose everything after getting billions of dong in compensation for their lands.”

Many of them handed over the money to their children who then used the easy money to buy luxury cars or build large buildings, he said.

But they slowly lost their assets because they did not know any other job, Hoi added.

Ta Thi Quynh, a resident of Ben Do 2 Hamlet in Cu Chi District’s Tan Phu Trung Commune, who received VND1.6 billion (US$95,000) for her lands, is busy tying bunches of water morning glory to make ends meet.

The 70-year-old, who has now become the family’s breadwinner, said three generations of her family had depended on 1.2ha of land to grow rice, which had provided enough for them.

“My son squandered away nearly all the money [received for the land] by gambling on football,” she said. “I then spent the few hundred million dong left to buy a small plot of land and cure his kidney disease.”

(Source: Viet Nam News)

Update from: http://english.vietnamnet.vn//features/2008/11/814433/