Regulations on Planning and Agricultural Land Use Plans

Vietnam is a country with great potential for developing salt production with a long coastline and long periods of sunshine. Many coastal areas in our country not only have strengths in exploitation and aquaculture, but commercial salt production is also considered a traditional occupation of salt farmers with more than

70,000 salt farmers nationwide. However, in recent years, salt production by salt farmers has not been favorable, and many households have not escaped poverty. Therefore, although it only accounts for a very small area in the total natural land area of the country (0.05%), the State's policy making and creating conditions for salt farmers to develop production has a very important political significance.

In 2010, the salt production area was 17,562 hectares, an increase of 3,487 hectares compared to 2005 [7]. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in 2011, the salt production area nationwide reached 14,615 hectares, equal to 96.7% compared to 2010, of which the manual salt production area reached 11,651 hectares, the industrial salt production area reached 2,964 hectares. By the end of October 2011, the salt production reached nearly 763,000 tons, and it is expected that by the end of 2011, the salt production will reach nearly 800,000 tons, but currently the amount of salt in stock in salt farmers is up to more than 216,000 tons. Assessing the situation of salt production and consumption in the 2011 crop year, a report by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that on average, each year, Vietnam imports from 120,000 to 150,000 tons of salt, accounting for about 10% of domestic salt production.

In fact, there are still many salt farmers who produce salt using traditional methods (drying crystallized water in the dry season), so the productivity and quality are low; the main product is raw salt, without other by-products such as gypsum and brine, so the production value is low and the consumption market is unstable. Industrial salt production brings high profits, but the investment cost for technology is expensive, so salt farmers cannot afford to invest. Meanwhile, the produced table salt cannot be sold, the inventory is large, and the price is cheap. The situation of allowing salt imports without control has greatly affected the price of salt and the lives of salt farmers.

According to the provisions of Decree No. 12/2006/ND-CP dated January 23, 2006 of the Government detailing the implementation of the Law on Commerce on international trade in goods and activities of agency for purchase, sale, processing and transit of goods with foreign countries, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall base on the salt import needs of industrial processing enterprises to grant quotas. According to the provisions of Decree No. 179/2004/ND-CP dated October 21, 2004 of the Government regulating the management of

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State management on quality, goods products, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is responsible for issuing quality criteria for imported salt for inspection by the General Department of Customs. From this process, it can be seen that the post-inspection stage of whether enterprises use imported salt for the right purpose or not, which agency is responsible for has been left open. It is recommended that the State inspect and review the salt supply capacity and the demand for high-quality salt of enterprises for production and have stricter regulations; clearly define the responsibilities between the Ministries on this issue.

To ensure economically efficient and sustainable salt production, improve productivity and quality, create stable jobs, and gradually improve the living standards of salt workers, the State needs to pay attention to implementing the following solutions:

Firstly, ensure stable salt production land area; implement investment policies to support the development of the salt industry to improve productivity, salt quality, and diversify post-salt products; and at the same time develop a model of rotating shrimp and fish farming in salt fields during the rainy season.

Second, upgrade salt fields towards industrialization and modernization; build a salt field technical infrastructure system. Apply mechanization in bringing seawater into salt fields; transfer scientific and technical advances, promote salt promotion, train salt farmers in rotational aquaculture methods in salt fields to improve the efficiency of salt land use.

Third, call for investment and have policies to encourage economic sectors to build processing facilities to create diverse salt products from raw salt. On the basis of forming salt craft villages, build salt cooperatives and cooperative groups; promote the exploitation of markets for salt products and post-salt products; encourage companies and purchasing facilities to sign salt consumption contracts with salt farmers before the production season.

2.3. Regulations on planning and agricultural land use plans

Land use planning aims to allocate land funds for the whole country, regions, and local levels (delimited for local and sectoral purposes). In terms of characteristics, land use planning is a type of planning that has historical-social, strategic and macro-directive, policy-based, medium- and long-term synthesis, variability, and is an important component of the national socio-economic and development planning system. Agricultural land use planning is a process

The process of determining the most appropriate (productive and sustainable) use of agricultural land by farmers on a given unit of land area.

In practice, land use planning is the legal basis for implementing state management of land, the basis for allocating land according to the law and the legal basis for investment sectors to develop stably and long-term, creating conditions for strong transformation of the economic structure, implementing industrialization and modernization of the country. For agricultural land, land use planning plays an important role in regulating land use needs at all levels. Through planning products, the State and localities evaluate the results of implementing land use plans, firmly grasp the agricultural land fund; at the same time, develop land use orientations and forecast agricultural land use needs for each development planning period.

Article 18 of the 1992 Constitution stipulates: "The State shall uniformly manage land according to planning and law, ensuring its proper and effective use." Land laws of all periods have provisions on planning and land use plans at all levels, and the content of regulations on this work has been expanded and detailed in the direction of codification.

2.3.1. Implementation status

On July 1, 1980, the Government Council (now the Government) issued Decision No. 201-CP on unifying land management and strengthening land management nationwide, which stated: "All land in the country is uniformly managed by the State according to the general planning and plan to ensure that land is used rationally, economically and developed in the direction of large-scale socialist production" [18].

To promote land use planning, the General Department of Land Management issued Circular No. 106/QHKH/RD dated April 15, 1991 on guidelines for land use planning. Accordingly, the scope of planning is land allocation for sectors with clearly defined locations, areas, and purposes of use; the use, application of technical measures, investment, and investment efficiency are undertaken by specialized planning. The subjects of land use planning are administrative units.

Before 1988, land use planning, including agricultural land use planning, only played a role as an argument in sectoral development planning. The awareness of each sector and each level was different and not based on the process.

and standards based on science and practice. From 1987 to before 1993, land use planning and planning were carried out by sector and territory on a trial basis. Since the promulgation of the 1993 Land Law, land use planning and planning have been respected and implemented in practice.

On October 28, 1995, the General Department of Land Administration issued Decision No. 657/QD/DC on the temporary promulgation of labor norms and prices for land use planning and planning surveys. Following Decision No. 657/QD/DC, the General Department of Land Administration issued Document No. 862/CV/DC dated July 16, 1996 on land use planning and planning to implement Directive No. 245/TTg with instructions on land use planning by provincial administrative units and by sector; Document No. 1814/CV-TCDC dated October 12, 1998 sent to the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities providing detailed instructions on the implementation of state management of land use planning and planning; procedures and contents of steps for developing land use planning and planning according to administrative territories at all levels; Management, allocation and settlement of planning capital, land use planning; planning for the conversion of agricultural and forestry land with forests for other purposes annually.

Following the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2001 Land Law, on October 1, 2001, the Government issued Decree No. 68/2001/ND-CP on land use planning and plans, regulations on the establishment, approval and management of land use planning and plans. The General Department of Land Administration issued Circular No. 1842/2001/TT-TCDC dated November 1, 2001 guiding the implementation of Decree No. 68/2001/ND-CP dated October 1, 2001.

With the promulgation of Decree No. 68/2001/ND-CP dated October 1, 2001 and Circular No. 1842/2001/TT-TCĐC dated November 1, 2001, the regulations on the order, content of the preparation, appraisal and approval of land use planning and plans were legalized and together with the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Land Law in 2001, it formed the most complete legal system since the Land Law in 1988 first regulated land use planning and plans. The preparation of land use planning and plans for the whole country has been carried out since 1994 and the work of developing land use plans has been carried out since 2001, some localities have implemented the preparation of 5-year land use plans for the provincial level.

The 2003 Land Law and Decree No. 181/2004/ND-CP dated October 29, 2004 of the Government on guidelines for the implementation of the Land Law were issued. On that basis, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the agency responsible for assisting the Government in organizing the implementation of land use planning and plans nationwide, issued documents guiding the work of land use planning and plans in the period 2003 - 2008 as follows:

Circular No. 28/2004/TT-BTNMT dated November 1, 2004 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment guiding the implementation of land statistics, inventory and construction of land use status maps.

Circular No. 30/2004/TT-BTNMT dated November 1, 2004 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment guiding the preparation, adjustment and appraisal of land use planning and plans.

Decision No. 04/2005/QD-BTNMT dated June 30, 2005 of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment promulgating the procedure for establishing and adjusting land use planning and plans.

Circular No. 04/2005/TT-BTNMT dated July 18, 2005 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment guiding measures for land management and use when arranging, renovating and developing state-owned agricultural and forestry farms.

Decision No. 10/2005/QD-BTNMT dated October 25, 2005 of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment promulgating economic and technical norms for establishing and adjusting land use planning and plans.

According to the 2003 Land Law, the general land use planning period of all levels is stipulated to be 5 years, the land use planning period is 10 years. The 2003 Land Law stipulates the content, authority to establish and approve land use planning and plans (Articles 23, 25, 26 of the 2003 Land Law). When exercising the authority to allocate land, it is necessary to rely on land use planning and plans (Article 31 of the 2003 Land Law). Accordingly: The Government organizes the implementation of land use planning and plans for the whole country; the National Assembly decides on land use planning and plans for the whole country submitted by the Government. The annual land use plan is only a component part of the 5-year land use plan and has no independent legal value. However, up to now, there are still localities that continue to make annual land use plans while there is no 5-year land use plan, which will lead to the consequence that land use plans do not ensure long-term stability.

The work of planning and planning for agricultural land use has been carried out at all four levels (national, provincial, district, and communal). The national land use plan until 2010 was approved by the 11th National Assembly, 5th Session in Resolution No. 29/2004/QH11 dated June 15, 2004 [31]. The 5-year land use plan (2006

- 2010) of the whole country was approved by the 11th National Assembly, 9th Session in Resolution No. 57/2006/QH11 dated June 29, 2006 [32].

However, the allocation of land use planning indicators between provincial and district and regional land use planning has a large difference, especially for agricultural land, including rice land. According to the results of reviewing agricultural land use planning indicators to 2010 between provincial and district levels (Table

2.1. Results of reviewing agricultural land use planning indicators to 2010 between provincial and district levels) ; out of a total of 557 districts that have been checked and compared between provincial land use planning and plans approved by the Government and district land use planning and plans approved, there are 482 districts with differences in agricultural land use planning indicators, accounting for 86.5%; 466 districts with differences in rice land planning indicators, accounting for 83.7%.

The results of land use conversion from agricultural land to non-agricultural land were lower than the approved plan in most provinces with a total area reduction of 145,487 hectares; the results of land use conversion from forestry land to non-agricultural land were lower than the approved plan in 44 provinces with a total area reduction.

38,216 ha (2008 statistics); implementation of land use conversion within agricultural land types nationwide also achieved lower than the approved plan in all indicators (Table 2.2. Results of implementation of the agricultural land use conversion plan from 2006 to 2008).

The results of land recovery implementation in the 3 years nationwide (2006 - 2008) did not meet the plan approved by the Government in most land categories (except aquaculture land), in which: agricultural production land implemented in 54 provinces and cities had a total area reduced by 151,738 hectares (rice land 53,066 hectares, perennial crop land

43,332 ha); forestry land implemented in 35 provinces and cities has a total area reduced

16,160 hectares.

Regarding handling of "suspended" planning cases, in the 3 years 2006 - 2008, 42 provinces and cities handled 1,457 "suspended" planning areas (reaching 82.8%) with a total of

The treated land area is 92,070 ha; of which 869 planning areas have been completed and 588 areas are in the process of being treated, the remaining 302 areas have not been considered for treatment with an area of 18,407 ha. However, the results of handling this situation nationwide are low (about 49.3%).

It can be seen that although the agricultural land planning work has done a relatively good job of basic investigation to assess the land fund, quantity and quality of agricultural land, the feasibility is not high, many plans overlap, and approval is slow. The situation of agricultural land, especially land specializing in rice cultivation, being abandoned and unproductive due to the impact of land allocation and land lease for the construction of industrial parks, industrial clusters, production and business establishments and new urban areas occurs in many localities due to the fragmented and scattered land allocation and land lease, not complying with approved planning and plans. Many localities have the conditions to establish and build industrial parks in mountainous areas, inefficient agricultural land that is not rice land, but still plan and apply for permission, propose to establish industrial parks on areas with favorable infrastructure, flat agricultural land, mainly rice land to limit infrastructure investment, typically industrial parks in Vinh Phuc, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Hai Duong, Long An, Tien Giang, ...

Implementing Directive No. 09/2007/CT-TTg dated April 6, 2007 of the Prime Minister on strengthening land use management of planning and investment projects; Directive No. 391/QD-TTg dated April 18, 2008 on reviewing and inspecting the current status of planning, planning and land use management for the 5-year period 2006 - 2010 nationwide; State management of agricultural land through planning tools and land use plans has been strengthened, contributing positively to the allocation and rational and effective use of land resources; basically ending the situation of land allocation, land lease, and land use purpose change outside the planning and land use plan. Most provinces and cities have established adjusted land use planning until 2010 and 5-year land use plans (2006 - 2010).

On August 13, 2009, the Government issued Decree No. 69/2009/ND-CP providing additional regulations on land use planning, land prices, land recovery, compensation, support and resettlement; in which, it innovates the method of making land use planning and plans, clearly defines the responsibilities of ministries, branches and localities in making land use planning; land use planning targets of each level are

clarify to create flexibility and initiative for localities in developing socio-economic development plans. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment issued Circular No. 19/2010/TT-BTNMT dated October 12, 2010 detailing the preparation, adjustment and appraisal of land use planning and plans and Directive No. 01/CT-BTNMT dated March 17, 2010 on strengthening land use planning.

According to the Government's Report to the National Assembly on the Land Use Planning to 2020 and the National 5-year Land Use Plan (2011 - 2020) [22], the results of implementing the targets according to the land use planning and plan (as of December 31, 2010) have basically achieved the targets decided by the National Assembly. The results of implementing some targets (Table 2.3. Results of implementing the land use planning for the period 2001 - 2010) are specifically as follows:

Agricultural land: in 2000 there were 21,532 thousand hectares, by 2010 there were 26,226 thousand hectares, an increase of 4,693 thousand hectares. The National Assembly resolution approved 26,220 thousand hectares, the agricultural land area exceeded the National Assembly's approved target by 0.2%.

Agricultural land: in 2000 there were 9,570 thousand hectares, by 2010 there were

10,126 thousand hectares, an increase of 556 thousand hectares. The National Assembly Resolution approved 9,240 thousand hectares. This is a great effort of localities in maintaining, protecting and developing agricultural land funds.

Land for annual crops: in 2000 there were 6,760 thousand hectares, by 2010 there were

6,438 thousand hectares, down 322 thousand hectares. The National Assembly Resolution approved 6,583 thousand hectares in 2010; the area of land for annual crops reached 97.8% of the target .

National Assembly approved.

Rice land: in the period 2001 - 2010, the National Assembly approved a target to reduce 407 thousand hectares, the result of implementation in 10 years was a reduction of 270 thousand hectares (in 2000, there were

4,268 thousand hectares, in 2010 there were 3,998 thousand hectares); compared to the target approved by the National Assembly, it reached 103.55%. In general, the rice area of the whole country still meets the requirements of food security, however, in some localities the rate of decrease is relatively fast such as the provinces in the Red River Delta, the Southeast region mainly switched to building industrial parks and urban areas; the Mekong Delta mainly switched to aquaculture and fruit trees.

Although rice land has decreased, rice productivity continues to increase; thus, national food security is still ensured, while rice exports average 5 - 6 million tons/year.

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