Circular No. 12/2009/TT-BNN guiding the implementation of the project to support the development of production under Program 135 for the period 2006-2010

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for Implementing the Project to Support the Development of Production under Program 135 Phase 2006-2010

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Pursuant to Decree No. 01/2008/NĐ-CP dated January 3, 2008, of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;

Pursuant to Decision No. 07/2006/QĐ-TTg dated January 10, 2006 of the Prime Minister approving the Program for Economic and Social Development of Particularly Difficult Communes in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the period 2006-2010 (referred to as Program 135 Phase II);

Pursuant to Circular Joint No. 01/2008/TTLT-UBDT-KHĐT-TC-XD-NNPTNT dated September 15, 2008 of the Inter-Ministerial Joint Circular guiding the implementation of Program 135 Phase II;

I. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

1. To increase sustainable income for poor households, helping them quickly escape poverty.

2. To enhance production knowledge and market understanding for poor households, enabling them to produce more effectively to sustainably escape poverty.

II. PROJECT INVESTOR AND PARTICIPANTS

1. Investor:

- The investor is the People's Committee of the commune.

- If the People's Committee of the commune does not meet the conditions to be the investor (as stipulated in Circular No. 01/2007/TT-UBDT dated June 21, 2007 of the UBDT), then the People's Committee of the district temporarily acts as the investor. At the same time, the People's Committee of the district has the responsibility to train and develop cadres at the commune level, dispatch cadres to assist the communes so that within twelve months from the start date of the project implementation, these communes can assume the role of investor.

- The investor may utilize the Project Management Board, the Program 135 Supervisory Board of the commune to organize the implementation of the production support project in the locality.

2. Participants:

a. Poor households: Identified according to Decision No. 170/2005/QĐ-TTg dated July 8, 2005 of the Prime Minister on the poverty standard applicable for the period 2006-2010 (if there is a revision of the poverty standard, the new standard will be applied).

b. Group of households: The group of households receiving support must satisfy the following conditions:

- Consisting of poor households and non-poor households residing in the same village community, with the same desire to develop one activity of production or service and voluntarily join the group. The group has a leader elected by the households to manage and direct the activities of the group.

- The group has a regulation of operation, clearly defining the responsibilities, obligations, and rights of members in the group to implement the production plan effectively, ensuring efficient use of support capital, contributing to job creation and increased income for members of the group.

- The number of non-poor households participating in the group shall not exceed 20% of the total number of households in the group (for groups with five households or more) and must be households with business experience, enthusiasm, and the ability to help other households, approved by the majority of members in the group and the People's Committee of the commune.

III. CONTENT OF THE PROJECT AND SUPPORT LEVEL

1. Content of support:

According to regulations, the project receives support for four contents described below. The investor bases on the commune and district development plans and the needs for support of the people to determine appropriate and practical contents (maximizing local advantages, directing people towards commodity production and services linked to markets, ensuring sustainable income, prioritizing food security). It is not necessary to invest in all contents in the same area to concentrate funds and avoid dispersion.

Specific support contents are as follows:

1. 1. Supporting agricultural, forestry, and fishery extension activities (referred to as agricultural extension)

a. Purpose: To help poor households improve their production knowledge and market knowledge (primarily in the production categories they have chosen) to produce effectively and increase income.

b. Supported activities:

- Training and imparting skills to producers to enhance their knowledge and skills in agriculture management.

- Organizing visits and learning experiences from advanced production models.

c. Expenditure items:

- Compiling training materials (excluding central-level materials already compiled).

- Printing training materials.

- Renting conference halls, classrooms, and equipment for training.

- Paying honoraria to lecturers and experts.

- Supporting instructors for practical skill demonstrations.

- Supporting participants' expenses during training such as drinking water, office supplies, materials, meals, travel, and accommodation (if overnight stay is required).

- Supporting expenses for visits and learning from advanced production models including transportation costs, meals during the visit, and accommodation rental (if overnight stay is required).

- Administrative costs for managing the training class.

1. 2. Supporting the construction of effective and advanced production models:

a. Purpose:

- Establishing good models for crop and livestock structure transformation, agricultural product preservation and processing, and effective agricultural product consumption.

- Organizing visits and learning experiences for project participants (and those outside the project) to disseminate and expand these models.

b. Supported activities (applicable for households and groups participating in model implementation):

- Building economic structure transformation models in communes linked to the application of scientific and technological advances in seeds, cultivation procedures, breeding, processing, preservation, and consumption of agricultural products.

- Building cooperative economic models between households and groups with businesses, cooperatives, production groups, farmer associations, and scientists in production, processing, preservation, and consumption of agricultural products.

c. Expenditure items:

- Seeds and main inputs (livestock feed, chemical fertilizers, veterinary drugs, plant protection chemicals, machinery, and equipment needed for model construction).

- Costs for purchasing intellectual property rights and new technology processes.

- Costs for hiring technical staff to guide the models.

- Training costs for producers, visits, model conclusions, and training for instructors to demonstrate practical techniques.

1. 3. Supporting planting and breeding seeds and production inputs.

a. Purpose: To help particularly difficult households obtain good seeds and initial production inputs to implement the project.

b. Supported activities:

- Good quality crop and livestock seeds, aquatic seed types included in the list registered in the project.

- Main inputs suitable for the production category in the project (livestock feed, chemical fertilizers, veterinary drugs, plant protection chemicals).

- Providing technical guidance to households on the use of seeds and inputs according to production procedures.

1. 4. Support for purchasing equipment and machinery to serve production, processing, and preservation of agricultural products.

a. Purpose:

 - Assist poor households in reducing heavy manual labor, increasing labor productivity, and income.

 - Create conditions for poor households to transition and develop new occupations, promoting social division of labor in the locality.

b. Activities supported

 - Support costs for purchasing mechanical or semi-mechanical machines and equipment serving production (plows, harrows, water pumps; rice threshers, etc.) and processing and preserving agricultural products (driers, feed cutters and mixers, etc.); prioritize support for equipment, machines, and tools that can utilize available local raw materials and have high demand locally.

 - Guide and transfer technology to enable proficient use of the supported equipment, machines, and tools.

2. Level of support: The level of financial support from the budget to implement the contents of expenditure in Sections 1, Part III of this Circular shall be determined by the Provincial People's Committee but must comply with current regulations and not be lower than the support level of the National Target Program on Poverty Reduction.

IV. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS AND ASSIGNMENT OF CAPITAL PLANS

1. Allocation of support funds

 - The Provincial People's Committee allocates central government support funds to districts according to criteria, not equally.

 - Criteria for allocation include: poverty rate, geographical location, area, number of poor households, special conditions of each commune, ensuring priority support for communes with high poverty rates.

 - The Provincial People's Committee establishes criteria and support standards to submit to the Provincial People's Council for approval, serving as the basis for allocating support funds to communes (villages, hamlets).

2. Establishing support standards:

a. The Provincial People's Committee assigns the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to lead and coordinate with relevant departments to compile and establish support standards to be submitted to the Provincial People's Council for decision. These standards will serve as the basis for developing production project plans for poor households in communes, villages, and hamlets, and will be used by people and related agencies to monitor implementation at the grassroots level. The standards include:

 - Maximum support level for one household or one group of households.

 - Support standards for expenditures in Section 1, Part III of this Circular, taking into account the special regions of the province.

b. At the beginning of each crop season or every six months, based on the price notification from the Department of Finance, the Provincial People's Committee will issue a decision to adjust the support levels to reflect actual conditions.

3. Capital assignment

a. Provincial People's Committee: Based on the central government support funds and provincial budget funds, the Provincial People's Committee develops a plan to allocate capital:

 - Management and guidance expenses for key units: Ethnic Minorities Board, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, districts... (as stipulated in Joint Circular No. 01/2008/TTLT-UBDT-KHĐT-TC-XD-NNPTNT dated September 15, 2008 of the Ministries).

 - Allocate funds to districts for supporting communes, villages, and hamlets within the district.

b. District People's Committee: Assign capital to communes (project sponsors) based on approved commune project plans.

 c. Commune People's Committee (project sponsor): Directly assign capital to households and groups of households according to registered plans.

 Due to the seasonal nature of agricultural production, capital assignment must ensure timely delivery so that support funds achieve their intended effect. The goal is: by December of the previous year, all funds should be assigned to households to prepare for the Spring crop of the following year; by May, funds for the Summer crop should be assigned; by August, funds for the Winter crop should be assigned.

Currently, due to the mismatch between the agricultural season and the fiscal year, the Provincial People's Committee needs to coordinate with the State Treasury to approve provisional payments when sponsors have approved capital plans and request forms. The minimum provisional payment rate is 30% of the support funding for households.

V. PROCEDURE FOR ESTABLISHING, REVIEWING, AND APPROVING ANNUAL PLANS

1. Commune People's Committee:

a. Organize information dissemination and publicity about the Production Support Project under Program 135.

Based on the capital allocation plan and support standards set by the Provincial People's Committee, the Commune People's Committee organizes publicity through various means: public address systems, public postings at communal gathering places to ensure residents understand the Party and State policies regarding the Project for poor households, as well as the project content.

b. Organize meetings in villages or village clusters to select production methods and choose households or groups of households participating in the project (districts and communes need to dispatch program 135 managers and agricultural extension workers to assist village leaders in implementing these tasks). Meeting content:

 - Publicly announce support policies of the Program, eligible beneficiaries (prioritizing households under policy, disabled, and poorest households). Based on this, the community votes and compiles lists of households and groups of households participating in the initial and subsequent rounds of the project.

 - Disseminate the district and commune's plans for agricultural development, types of crops and livestock, and production activities with advantages for development, so that households can make informed choices before registering for project participation. This selection should focus on a few advantageous areas in the locality that poor households can easily access, avoiding widespread distribution.

 - Households voluntarily register (using registration forms) to select project participation content.

 - The meeting must have minutes (according to Model 02 - attached appendix), read aloud publicly before closing and filed in the records.

c. Compile lists of participating households and groups of households:

 - Village chiefs consolidate the contents registered by households and groups of households, compile lists of registered households and groups of households along with requested project participation content and support levels (according to Model 03 - attached appendix).
 - In cases where households or groups of households register content that does not comply with regulations, village chiefs need to meet and guide them to adjust before compiling the list for public posting.
 - Organize public posting at communal gathering places and announce on the public address system.
 - After one week from the date of public posting, if there are no objections from the community, compile the project plan (according to Model 04 - attached appendix) and send it to the Commune People's Committee.

d. The People's Committee of the commune (project sponsor) shall prepare a plan for implementation with detailed budget estimates (according to Model 05 - attached annex). The plan shall cover the entire period up to 2010 and be divided annually, to be submitted to the People's Committee of the district for approval.

2. The People's Committee of the district: shall review and approve plans for communes, simultaneously preparing a general plan for the district and reporting to the People's Committee of the province.

3. The People's Committee of the province: based on the plans of the districts, consolidate them into a general plan for the province and report to the competent authority of the Program, which is the Ethnic Minorities Committee, and the main agency of the Project, which is the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (through the Department of Cooperative Economy and Rural Development).

VI. SETTLEMENT AND AUDIT

1. All investment capital for Program 135 from the state budget must be managed and settled centrally and uniformly through the State Treasury.

2. For capital contributions from the people, including labor days, materials, goods, etc., shall all be converted into Vietnamese currency. The project sponsor must maintain records and keep track of these contributions to provide to the financial authorities for uniform conversion. Financial authorities shall issue revenue orders for this capital while also issuing expenditure orders, sending them to the State Treasury for accounting purposes as part of the value of the support project.

3. Settlement of state budget capital can only be carried out when the project sponsor has complete settlement documents, including: the capital allocation plan approved by the People's Committee of the district for the project sponsor, the list of households/groups participating in the project approved by the People's Committee of the commune, the plan and detailed budget estimates approved by the People's Committee of the district, and financial vouchers as prescribed by current regulations.

- For training activities, technical guidance, etc., where there are no physical quantities, a final acceptance report must be provided.

- For procurement activities of materials and services by units and individuals registered for business, financial invoices are required. In cases of transactions between households without financial invoices, only receipts between the households are needed, but the unit price must not exceed the estimate in the budget and must be confirmed by the village head, the head of the ethnic group, and the People's Committee of the commune.

VII. ASSIGNMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES IN DIRECTING IMPLEMENTATION

1. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Assign the Department of Cooperative Economy and Rural Development to lead and coordinate with relevant units to carry out the following tasks:

- Guide, inspect, urge localities to implement the project and propose policies and solutions to adjust and supplement to promote effective project implementation;

- Develop and promulgate guidelines, documents, and handbooks for implementing the project;

- Summarize the implementation situation of the project periodically every six months and annually, conduct analysis and evaluation of results, and send them to the Steering Committee of Program 135 through the program's permanent office;

- Organize mid-term and final reviews for localities participating in the Program to summarize, evaluate, promote the effective operation of the project, and achieve the set progress.

2. The People's Committee of the province.

2. 1. Shall be responsible for the results of project implementation within its jurisdiction.

2. 2. Shall decide:

- The support standards for various components of the project within its jurisdiction;

- Establish criteria for allocating funds at the local level;

- Allocate central government budget support funds and local budget funds for the project to counties, management costs to relevant units under provincial jurisdiction;

- Mechanisms and contents for integrating various sources of funding within the jurisdiction (related to communes, villages, ethnic groups with Program 135) to concentrate resources and improve the efficiency of fund utilization.

2. 3. Summarize, evaluate, and report regularly on the results of project implementation within its jurisdiction to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as stipulated.

The People's Committee of the province should assign the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development as the main agency of the project, coordinating with relevant units in the province to assist the People's Committee of the province in carrying out the above tasks and directing the implementation of the project within its jurisdiction.

3. The People's Committee of the county.

- Shall be responsible for the results of project implementation within the county;

- Review and approve projects for communes and allocate funds to communes (according to criteria and plans that have been approved);

- Train, enhance, and support the People's Committee of the commune to perform their duties as project sponsors effectively;

- Organize integration and mobilization of resources to implement the project within the county;

- Direct, inspect, and evaluate the results of project implementation within the county; - Summarize, evaluate, and report regularly to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the provincial Program 135 permanent office.

4. The People's Committee of the commune:

- Is the project sponsor within the commune, responsible for the results of project implementation within the commune;

- Approve lists of households and groups participating in the project;

- Implement the contents of the project well;

- Regularly inspect and supervise the implementation in households and groups to help them implement the project effectively;

- Summarize, evaluate, and report regularly on the results of project implementation to the People's Committee of the county.

VIII. REPORTING, INSPECTION, SUPERVISION, AND EVALUATION OF PROJECT EFFECTIVENESS REGIME

1. Reporting System:

1. 1. Quarterly reports:

- Implement the regular reporting system from the grassroots level to the People's Committee of the province (through the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for consolidation).

- Common reporting forms apply according to Decision No. 04/2008/QĐ-UBDT dated August 8, 2008, of the Ethnic Minorities Committee on the issuance of regulations and reporting forms for the Economic-Social Development Program for Particularly Difficult Communes in Ethnic Minority Areas and Mountainous Regions for the 2006-2010 period.

1. 2. Six-month and annual reports: The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is responsible for preparing reports on the results of the Production Support Project under Program 135 within its jurisdiction to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is responsible for consolidating the implementation situation of the project nationwide and reporting to the Central Steering Committee (through the program's permanent office).

2. Inspection and supervision of project implementation

2. 1. Purpose: To identify weaknesses, obstacles, and risks during the project implementation process to promptly take measures to address them, support, and ensure overall high effectiveness of project implementation within the jurisdiction.

2. 2. Content: Focus on inspections at the grassroots level, concentrating on the following stages:

- Allocation of funds from the province to poor households;

- Assessment of participants in the project;

- Procurement of materials and equipment (quality, unit price provided by suppliers of goods and services; types and quality of goods purchased by households,...);

- Results of project implementation at households and groups of households.

2. 3. Methods of inspection:

- Higher levels must inspect lower levels on a regular basis every six months once. In cases where multiple higher levels inspect the same lower level, coordination plans must be established to avoid overlap;

- At the grassroots level: the project sponsor uses the Program 135 Supervisory Board of the commune to oversee the Support for Production project;

3. Evaluation of project implementation

- Annually organize evaluations of the results of project implementation in each commune, district, province, and nationwide, carried out by People's Committees at all levels and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;

The evaluation applies the set of assessment indicators according to Decision No. 04/2008/QĐ-UBDT dated August 8, 2008 of the National Ethnic Committee;

- Additionally, the commune People's Committee (project sponsor) needs to monitor and annually evaluate changes in:

+ Additional total income of poor households participating in the project.

+ Proportion of female labor force participating in the project.

+ Proportion of households encountering risks and capital losses in the project.

IX. OTHER GUIDELINES

1. To ensure consistency among documents and to guide specific activities during the organization and implementation of the Project, especially for commune officials and farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will issue a Handbook for Implementing the Support for Production Project under Program 135 following this Circular;

2. This Circular replaces Circulars No. 01/2007/TT-BNN dated January 15, 2007, and No. 79/2007/TT-BNN dated September 20, 2007, of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and shall take effect 45 days from the date of issuance. All other provisions contrary to this Circular are abolished;

3. During the process of implementation, if any issues arise, localities need to report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for supplementation and adjustment./.