Each locality has reorganized 1 public service unit to carry out agricultural promotion tasks
On the afternoon of October 3, at the Party Central Committee Headquarters, General Secretary To Lam chaired a working session with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment on reviewing the situation of arranging public service units to carry out agricultural promotion tasks in localities when operating the 2-level local government model.
According to the report of the Ministry of Home Affairs, implementing the model of two-level local government, the situation of arranging forces to promote agricultural production at the grassroots level and encourage community agriculture, each locality has now reorganized a public service unit under the Department of Agriculture and Environment to carry out agricultural promotion tasks.
Accordingly, in addition to the functions and tasks of agricultural extension activities according to Decree 83/2018/ND-CP, localities currently assign provincial agricultural extension organizations to perform many other tasks in the agricultural sector such as plant protection, veterinary medicine, agricultural - forestry - fishery quality management. The total number of agricultural extension officers working at the Provincial Agricultural Extension Center Office is currently 1,763 people.
Implementing the 2-level local government model, provinces and cities across the country have reorganized district-level agricultural extension organizations (agricultural Service Centers) according to the following plans: 24/34 provinces have established regional agricultural extension stations managed by the provincial-level Agricultural Extension Center; 3/34 provinces have established regional agricultural service stations managed by the Department of Agriculture and Environment (Hanoi, Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri); 2/34 provinces have established regional agricultural service stations managed by the People's Committees (Lao Cai, Quang Ngai). After the arrangement, the total number of regional agricultural promotion stations nationwide is 324 stations; the total number of agricultural promotion officers working at stations is 4,518 people.
Urgently perfect the organization of agricultural promotion in the area from the provincial level
Speaking at the meeting, General Secretary To Lam stated that on general issues at the commune level, the Politburo had assessed and had very specific conclusions. According to the reflection, one of the most difficult problems at the commune level is personnel work. The Politburo requires localities to arrange and assign sufficient professional staff before October 15, 2025.
Regarding agricultural promotion, the General Secretary emphasized that unifying agriculture as a very important issue, receiving special attention in accordance with the direction of the Central Government, agriculture is a national advantage, a pillar of the economy. Determining agricultural promotion is an important task of the commune-level government.
Agricultural incentives must be attached to the grassroots, attached to the fields. Each commune has two agricultural extension officers. At the provincial level, there are still Agricultural Extension Centers, mainly performing the tasks of guiding, coordinating, urging, and supporting the commune level.
The General Secretary requested to urgently perfect the agricultural promotion organization in the area from the provincial to the commune level, eliminate intermediaries, ensure connectivity, synchronization, unity, regular and effective operation; arrange positions for civil servants with expertise in the agricultural sector at the commune level; consolidate, enhance and improve the effectiveness of agricultural promotion officers at the commune level to ensure agricultural promotion activities at the commune level are not interrupted or interrupted.
The General Secretary proposed to strengthen the agricultural promotion apparatus according to the model of organizing local government at 2 levels, selecting a team of civil servants and public employees to meet the requirements of the task, both implementing state management and implementing the requirements of providing agricultural promotion services at the commune level.
