The flood of people looking for jobs at industrial parks or export processing zones in places like Dong Nai Province means local farmers in Ninh Binh Province are short of hired hands during the harvest season, according to Vu Duc Toan, chairman of Tan Thanh Commune, Ninh Binh Province.
Hundreds of workers from other areas have poured into Ninh Binh to fill in the gap.
“Harvesting 360 m2 of rice fields pays between VND80,000 – 120,000 (US$5 – $7), double last year,” said Vu Thi Tam, a temp harvester from Lai Thanh Commune. “That’s good for me.”
Toan chalked the pay raise for harvesters up to inflation, bumper crops and a shortage of local labourers. Harvesters are taking advantage of the situation.
“They want more money on the basis that the bumper harvest makes their work harder,” he said.
“They are busiest with work during the planting and harvesting seasons. During the off periods, they have to go to industrial areas to find jobs to make a living,” said Toan.
“And they often do not come back in time for harvest,” he added.
“We’ve had to pay others to do most of the field work: planting crops, spraying pesticide, fertilising the fields and harvesting rice for us”, said Trinh Xuan Vinh, a farmer from Luu Phuong Commune, Kim Son District, Ninh Binh Province. “Our children went to the city. My wife and I cannot manage everything,” Vinh said.
Among the 2,300 labourers in Tan Thanh Commune, 80 per cent left to work as masons in urban areas. Only 100 people returned for harvest, according to the commune statistics.
“It is said that industrial parks and export processing zones push farmers away because they lose their land. Conversely, we want to have them to keep our people here, especially the youth,” said Mai Van Thanh, head of the Kim Son District People’s Committee.
“We planned a16-hectare industrial park in Kim Son District but it hasn’t attracted any investment yet,” Thanh said.
