Circular No. 10/2005/TT-BNN guiding the construction and implementation of the plan for reorganizing, reforming, and developing state-owned agricultural and forestry farms.

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for the development and implementation of plans to reorganize, renovate, and develop state-owned agricultural and forestry farms.and develop state-owned farms and forests.

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Pursuant to Decree No. 170/2004/NĐ-CP dated September 22, 2004 of the Government on reorganization, renovation, and development of state-owned agricultural farms;

Pursuant to Decree No. 200/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 3, 2004 of the Government on reorganization, renovation, and development of state-owned forestry farms;

After receiving comments from relevant ministries and sectors, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issues guidelines for the development and implementation of plans to reorganize, renovate, and develop state-owned agricultural and forestry farms.

This technical regulation sets out technical requirements, testing methods, sampling procedures; management requirements; responsibilities of organizations and individuals producing, trading, and importing cigarettes.

1. Objectives and requirements for developing plans to reorganize, renovate, and develop state-owned agricultural and forestry farms

a) Objectives

Developing plans to reorganize, renovate, and develop state-owned agricultural and forestry farms aims at:

- Accurately assessing the current status of state-owned agricultural and forestry farms to classify and reorganize existing farms according to the types specified in Article 4 of Decree No. 170/2004/NĐ-CP dated September 22, 2004 of the Government on reorganization, renovation, and development of state-owned agricultural farms and Article 4 of Decree No. 200/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 3, 2004 of the Government on reorganization, renovation, and development of state-owned forestry farms.

- On the basis of classification and reorganization, to establish and apply appropriate mechanisms and policies for each type of agricultural and forestry farm to effectively utilize land resources, manage, protect, and sustainably use forest resources; enhance production and business efficiency of agricultural and forestry farms; create additional jobs and income for workers; contribute to poverty reduction, economic and social development, and ensure security and defense in the region.

b) Requirements

- The plan must be specific, closely aligned with reality, and ensure feasibility to achieve the goals and principles of reorganizing, renovating, and developing state-owned agricultural and forestry farms.

- The content of the plan must clearly reflect the functions and responsibilities of each agricultural and forestry farm after restructuring and reorganization. Clearly distinguish public service tasks from production and business tasks.

- The plan and solutions regarding land and labor must be carefully considered when developing and implementing the plan.

2. Basis for developing plans to reorganize, renovate, and develop state-owned agricultural and forestry farms

- Decree No. 170/2004/NĐ-CP dated September 22, 2004 of the Government on "Reorganization, Renovation, and Development of State-Owned Agricultural Farms" and guiding documents of relevant ministries and sectors implementing this Decree.

- Decree No. 200/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 3, 2004 of the Government on "Reorganization, Renovation, and Development of State-Owned Forestry Farms" and guiding documents of relevant ministries and sectors implementing this Decree.

- Economic and social development plans; land use plans and three types of forest planning; agricultural and forestry development plans of localities.

- Areas of various types of land managed and used by agricultural and forestry farms.

- Production and business efficiency of state-owned agricultural and forestry farms in the years 2002, 2003, and 2004.

- Organizational plans for production and business of agricultural and forestry farms for future years.

3. Objects of reorganization

The objects of reorganization under this Circular include state-owned agricultural and forestry farms; state-owned companies and enterprises currently engaged in agricultural, forestry, and aquaculture production and business operations, which have been assigned or leased land by the State for such purposes.

For member agricultural and forestry farms that are dependent units of agricultural and forestry companies, reorganization must be carried out within the framework of the overall reorganization, renovation, and development of the entire company. If these farms continue to operate as dependent production and business units, they may retain their original names without necessarily changing them.

II. TRANSITION AND REORGANIZATION OF CURRENT STATE-OWNED AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY FARMS

1. Agricultural Farms

1.1. Agricultural farms to be continued to consolidate to improve production and business efficiency include:

a) Agricultural farms responsible for specialized perennial crop production, with relatively complete infrastructure, generating profit or covering costs. These farms need to focus on intensive cultivation of planted areas, combined with investment in improving, upgrading, and expanding existing processing facilities or building new ones through joint stock participation of organizations and individuals inside and outside the farm; expansion of new planting areas should only occur if truly effective projects are available. Unused or inefficiently used land areas will be reclaimed by provincial or centrally-administered city People's Committees for allocation or leasing according to laws on land.

b) Agricultural farms responsible for annual crop and livestock production, which have been stably and long-term contracted to workers; forming concentrated large-scale production zones providing raw materials for processing and exportable agricultural products; generating profit or covering costs. These farms need to organize production, act as seed suppliers, build models for applying and transferring advanced technologies, develop processing and product sales for farmers in the region. Provincial or centrally-administered city People's Committees will reclaim unused or inefficiently used land areas for allocation or leasing to other entities.

1.2. Agricultural farms transitioning to production and business of seeds, establishing models for applying and transferring advanced technologies to farmers in the region include those producing annual crops and livestock without processing facilities, operating poorly, and implementing white contracts for land to workers. These farms will retain only sufficient land area for the above activities, with the remaining land reclaimed by provincial or centrally-administered city People's Committees for allocation or leasing according to laws on land.

1.3. Agricultural farms to be dissolved include weak farms continuously losing money since 2002, whose current income mainly depends on land rental revenue, without effective remediation plans.

1.4. State farms continue to retain their operations in remote areas, border regions, islands with significant ethnic minority populations and requirements for stable settlement and national defense and security. The state farm only manages a portion of land suitable for seed production, model application and technology transfer, and construction of processing facilities serving local communities; closely integrating economic and social development tasks with national defense and security responsibilities.

2. Forest farms

2.1. Forest farms are reorganized into forestry companies including:

a) Forest farms currently managing mainly planted forests and land planned for forest plantation with concentrated area sizes and feasible production and business plans.

b) Forest farms currently managing mainly production forests consisting of natural forests and some planted forests, and land planned for forest plantation with concentrated area sizes and feasible production and business plans. Forestry companies have the responsibility to manage, protect, plant, nurture forests, harvest, process, and market forest products; supply raw materials to industrial production facilities and meet national economic consumption needs. Additionally, these companies may be assigned public service tasks ordered by the State or given plans. Provincial People's Committees will reclaim unused or inefficiently used land and forests and allocate or lease them to other entities.

2.2. Forest farms are converted into Forest Protection Management Boards comprising forest farms with forest and land areas planned for protective forest development of 5,000 hectares or more (in special cases, the area may be smaller as decided by the provincial People's Committee) and accounting for at least 70% of the allocated land area.

2.3. Forest farms are converted into Special Purpose Forest Management Boards comprising forest farms with forest and land areas planned for special purpose forest development of 1,000 hectares or more (in special cases, the area may be smaller as decided by the provincial People's Committee) and accounting for at least 70% of the allocated land area. The functions and responsibilities of Forest Protection Management Boards and Special Purpose Forest Management Boards are implemented according to Decision No. 08/2001/QD-TTg dated January 11, 2001.

2.4. Forest farms are converted into revenue-generating public service units (Centers, Stations, Farms) providing services such as producing tree seedlings, building application models, and transferring advanced technologies to farmers in the region, including forest farms managing less than 1,000 hectares of land, scattered and intermixed with agricultural land, near residential areas. The financial management mechanism for this type of unit is implemented according to Decree No. 10/2002/NĐ-CP dated January 16, 2002 on financial regulations applicable to revenue-generating public service units.

2.5. State-owned forest farms must be dissolved including:

a) Forest farms that have been operating at a loss for three consecutive years starting from 2002 without effective remediation plans.

b) Forest farms with less than 1,000 hectares of natural land, scattered and intermixed with agricultural land and near residential areas, with no need or conditions to convert into revenue-generating public service units as stipulated in Clause 2.4, Clause 2, Section II of this Circular.

c) Forest farms primarily managing land planned for protective forest and special purpose forest development but not meeting the scale requirements to convert into Forest Protection Management Boards or Special Purpose Forest Management Boards as stipulated in Clause 2.2, Clause 2.3, Clause 2, Section II of this Circular.

d) Forest farms that do not play a role or have an impact on economic and social development and national defense and security in the region.

2.6. For forest farms with forest and land areas planned for protective forest development of 5,000 hectares or more and special purpose forest development of 1,000 hectares or more, but accounting for less than 70% of the allocated land area, the following measures shall be taken:

a) Separate the land areas planned for protective forest and special purpose forest development to establish separate protected forest and special purpose forest zones with their own management boards or merge them into adjacent Forest Protection Management Boards or Special Purpose Forest Management Boards (if available).

b) The forest farm will only manage the remaining land areas planned for production forest development.

III. PROCEDURES FOR REORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF STATE-OWNED AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY FARMS

1. Establishment of the Steering Committee for Reorganization, Reform, and Development of State-Owned Agricultural and Forestry Farms.

The Steering Committee for Reorganization and Reform of State-Owned Agricultural and Forestry Farms was established based on the directive of Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Official Letter No. 387/VPCP-NN dated January 21, 2005 of the Government Office, specifically:

- At the central level: The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development decides to establish the Steering Committee for Reorganization, Reform, and Development of State-Owned Agricultural and Forestry Farms, headed by the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, with participation from leaders of relevant departments of related ministries and sectors.

- At the provincial level: The Enterprise Reform, Reorganization, and Development Board of each province and centrally-administered city, and state-owned corporations implement the reorganization, reform, and development tasks of state-owned agricultural and forestry farms within their respective provinces, centrally-administered cities, and corporations.

The Enterprise Reform, Reorganization, and Development Board of state-owned agricultural and forestry farms has the responsibility to guide functional agencies in developing and implementing restructuring, reform, and development plans for state-owned agricultural and forestry farms; promptly address any difficulties and issues during the plan development and implementation process.

2. Plan Development:

2.1. For Ministries, Sectors: Direct functional units to develop restructuring, reform, and development plans for state-owned agricultural and forestry farms of the Ministry, sector, and submit them to the Prime Minister for approval.

2.2. For provinces and centrally-administered cities: The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development takes the lead in coordinating with the Enterprise Reform, Reorganization, and Development Board of the province and advisory agencies assisting the provincial People's Committee in developing restructuring, reform, and development plans for state-owned agricultural and forestry farms and submitting them to the Prime Minister for approval.

2.3. For State-owned Corporations: Direct departments and subordinate enterprises to develop restructuring, reform, and development plans for state-owned agricultural and forestry farms of the Corporation to be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval (for Corporation 91), and to be submitted to the competent ministry, agency, or sector for consolidation into a general plan to be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval (for Corporation 90).

The restructuring, reform, and development plans for state-owned agricultural and forestry farms of State-owned Corporations must have the agreement of the People's Committee of the province or centrally governed city where the state-owned agricultural and forestry farms are located.

3. Review and approve the plans

The restructuring, reform, and development plans for state-owned agricultural and forestry farms of provinces and centrally governed cities; of ministries, agencies, sectors, and State-owned Corporations (91) shall be sent to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for review and submission to the Prime Minister for approval.

4. Implementation of the plans

After the restructuring, reform, and development plans for state-owned agricultural and forestry farms are approved by the Prime Minister, the following specific actions shall be carried out:

4.1. The Chairman of the People's Committee of the province or centrally governed city; the Heads of ministries, agencies, sectors, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of State-owned Corporations with state-owned agricultural and forestry farms issue decisions on restructuring state-owned agricultural and forestry farms within their management scope according to the plans approved by the Prime Minister. The provincial and centrally governed city enterprise restructuring boards and State-owned Corporations direct relevant agencies to guide state-owned agricultural and forestry farms to implement the restructuring, reform, and development plans according to the approved decision.

4.2. State-owned agricultural and forestry farms develop conversion plans according to the restructuring decisions to be submitted to the competent authority for approval, including the following contents:

- Land management and utilization plan;

- Labor utilization plan;

- Financial plan and debt settlement;

- Forest management plan (for forestry farms);

- Production and business organization plan after conversion.

4.3. Forestry farms to be converted into forest protection management boards, special-use forest management boards, and revenue-generating public institutions develop conversion plans.

4.4. State-owned agricultural and forestry farms to be dissolved develop dissolution plans.

4.5. The People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities, ministries, agencies, and State-owned Corporations approve the conversion plans of state-owned agricultural and forestry farms under their management.

4.6. The People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities organize land allocation, land leasing, and land recovery according to decisions for state-owned agricultural and forestry farms implementing conversion plans; they also develop management and utilization plans for the land of state-owned agricultural and forestry farms that are being dissolved.

IV. CONTENTS OF THE RESTRUCTURING, REFORM, AND DEVELOPMENT PLANS FOR STATE-OWNED AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY FARMS (Attached model outline)

V. IMPLEMENTATION

1. Ministries, agencies, provincial and centrally governed city People's Committees, and State-owned Corporations (91) with state-owned agricultural and forestry farms direct relevant agencies to develop restructuring, reform, and development plans for state-owned agricultural and forestry farms of their localities and units to be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval before June 30, 2005.

2. The implementation of approved plans shall be completed before June 30, 2006.

3. This Circular takes effect fifteen days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

4. During the implementation process, if there are difficulties, they should be reported to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for consideration and resolution.