Roles, Tasks and Responsibility of the Department of Agriculture and Agriculture Extension, DAE (File No. 0356/MAF)

LAO PEOPLE'S DEHOCRATIC REPUBLIC PEACE INDEPENDENCE'DEHOCRACY UNITY PROSPERITY MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY File No. 0356/MAF BQL~ TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITY OF T~E D£EARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND AgRL~1L~It~~ ~X~~NSION (DAE) On the basis of the Prime Minister's decree No. 84/PM dated 22/11/91 concerning the organization and activities of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF). Minister:of the MAF has determined the roles, authority and tasks of the DAE as follows: CHAPTER I Article 1 The Department of the Agriculture and Agr. Extension is a Department to administer at macro ·1 eve 1 of the agr i cu 1ture sector, wh i ch have equivalent status as various Departments of the MAF. Article 2: The OAE has a role as a direct mensuration for the MAF to study, guide,plan,monitor, organize and administer at the macro level, by following the vertical line, concerning the .Agricultural deve 1opmen t f rom the centra 1 to the 1oca 1 areas within the country. * THE MAIN ROLES ARE: 2.1 To study and inspect the implementation of strategies, policies, plans, laws and regulations about the organization and management of agricultural development; establ ish the agri cu 1tura 1 research and exper i ment network throughout the country, by referring to the Party and Gove rnmen t ' s course and gene r a 1 co 1 i c i es such as 2.1. 1 ~ . "..:.. I .... ., 1 '1 .;.. •• • ,.j 2.1. .l. 2.1 .5 2.1.6 To conver~ the semi natural and fully natural ways of small scale production for individual su~ficiency towards the large scale production of commodity by changing the st.::.u.;ture (components) of production i.e to change from simple crops plantation to be an integrated plantation; to achieve sufficient food SCUTT' for internal consumpticn and sale for internal process and export. To solve prob1ems about the cereal and food, on the baSiS of enlargement of production and firm ~menGment of ~he plantation components. To ~racL:al1y e s t ac l i sh a reasonable structure of agriculture and extension. 70 conduc z s u r v e y for dividing agricultural iand....; fo rmu I ate r.he regu I at ions then sucm i: them for acoroval, and inspect the actual ad~inistration and uti li:ation af the cultivated land in orjer to make the agricultural production compatible for the capaci 1 ity of various regions, areas and minorities of people. To guide and encourage the research wor~, ucili:e the advantages of the approcriatescientific ant technology progress in orjer to increase ehe productivity of the or oduc t i on , adequately supply the soc i e t y 'Hitn cereal and also reservation for contingency as 'r'lel1 as conservation of the environment. To study now to extend! ennance the achievement of the scientific research to the agriculturists in order to increasingly augment the agricultural products to be commodity. ? 1 7 . , • I To study and organize agricultural land to externa I investors ut i l i ze it. the donation of the surveyed the farmers and internal and to reasonab 1y and I ega11 y 2.1.3 To coordinate with relevant Departments witnin the MAE and other Ministries to develop the integrated agriculture i.e a system of cultivation- livestock, cultivation-forestry; and cultivation-livestock­ forestry in order to make an appropri ate use of natural resources and conserve the environment. 2.1.9 2. 1 . 10 To motivate and coordinate with the banks to develop credit system in rural areas in order to provide credits to agriculturists for effective production. To be master in coordinating with relevant partners in order to ·support and elevate the nationwide establishment of.the farmers groups, agriculturists association throughout the country. 2 . 1 . 1 1 To try to attain cooperation according MAF, in o.rde r to activities. international support and to the assignment from the deve 1co the agr i cu 1tu r a 1 2.2 To form and upgrade the technical staff for all fields of agricultural occupations in order to educate them to be developers (personnel of development activities) who can grasp policies, know how to mobiii ze and organ i ze peop lei n the production and have much experience in specialty. CHAPTER II TASKS AND AUTHORITY Article 3: The main tasks: 3. 1 To enhance the cou rse , S tra teg i es and plans of the central Party and Government to be action plans, regulation and laws in order to administer the development of agriculture and extension. 3.2 Tn organize the monitoring and evaluation implementation of plans, projects, regulations mentioned in 3.1; and also to investigate the impacts to be extended and instantly restrict points and shortcomings. of the and laws positive the weak 3.3 To study plans for formation, upgrading the staff and distribute them employment to ensure their proper interests according to the policies on administration, awarding, promotion and transference, leave of absence, health care, retirement and pension of the staff in the Department, which are issued and enforced by the Government. 3.4 To establish the network of agricultural statistics and information centres in order to make contribution to the effective delineation of courses, policies; to collect,assess, analyze the mentioned data, on the one hand to regularly report the innovative information about agricultura to the ~A;:, on t he oth.er hand t..!l i ns t an tl z i ntroauce and no t i f'l the i nformat i on to t ne farmers g"roup' and agricultur~sts association, agricult.ural: s~r~ice un its and o-c.:ier r e I evant organ i zat, ions bothi n ~U.bl~tC.~~<1· orivate sec-c.ors as well as peopla. . 3.5 To study the short. and lo~g terms strategies on agricultural production, research, expe r i men t s and extension throughou-c. the count.r'l in oreer -::0 assure the aaequate productiofi q~ fOOdstuff and more commoaitj. 3.5" 7"0 s t udy and submit the regulations and policies on aaricu 1ture, acricultural land utili:ation, utili:atidn of agricultura1 Chemical substance and parents soecies, :0 the super0isors ~ho dealt with agriculture and then o r qan i ze the implementation, administration and :nonlt.oring· ac t i v i t i s s according to the legislated regulations. 3.7 1"0 prevent and restrict the::est epidemic wh.i cn seriously destro'ls crops an~ causes toe reduction of yie1d proaucts ~y means. of developing ~et~ork of olants protection and es::abPf~;'ling. the plancs cneck i nc pest 1:1 different regions and along the imoortant ~order ·spots. 3.3 To 'scud! ana es t ao f.i sh the institutions, groups, centres, stations, ~rojects, technical unlts and pus~ness units and ather cechnlcal committees which sui~aole,fcr s cec i f i c areas and districts allover t:'le coun t r t e s : in orcer to support the research, extenS10ns ane dissemination of the findings and to provide a wlde range af services for the farmers. 3. '} 7"0 stud/and make use of the '/'Iork i ng methods, internal regulations and stru.cture of organization vertically from the central to the local; define ~he needs of oermanenc staff eXCluding part time workers and ccn~racted employees. 3,10 \0 support and facilitate the institutes, groups, centres, scations, projects, technical unics and others relevant part.ies under t.he r espons t o i l i t y of t.he OAE inc 1ud i ng the bus i ness un its to accomp 1ish the i r own tasks. MeanwhileDAE has to inspect and monitor Chemin work performance, labour utilization and administration. of budges uti 1 i za t i on , vehicles, equipments and other' objects belonging to the state, by following the laws, regulations and economical and technical principles which formulated by the MAF and government. 3.11 To implement the strateg,/ to encourage the staff to go and work in t.helocal areas of villages, to assist the families of farmers, according to the policies of the Party, Government and the MAF. 3.12 To coordinate with foreign~countries and international organizations, according to th~ guidance and assignment of the MAF to, to obtain the assistance and cooperation in the agriculture and extension 0 the basis of the general principles and regulations formulated by the Government and the MAF. Article 4: Author.ity The main authorities are: 4.1 To study, propose to establish and abolish the institutes, groups, ceritres, stations, projects, technical units or other parties under the vertical line of administration systems in the DAE. 4.2 To study and propose the MAF to nominate, promote, transfer, deposition, chasten and award the heads of the Se~tions of the Department, the head of th~agriculture sp.ct40ns in the provinces, municipality and Dis.tr-icts,~ the- head of the institutes,centres, groups, stations, projects and the head of the technical ~nits as well as all. proFessional(high level) staff. Fo~ the low level stafF further than the above mention it must be direct 1y manage by the DAE in coord i nat i on wi th the PAFS and DAFO and other re 1evant techn i ca 1 units; by reporting the matter to the Personnel Department or discussing with the rulers of the Districts and provinces before hand if it is necessary. 4.3 To study and propose to set up and eliminate the farmers groups, agriculturist association. 4.4 To study and forward the requests which proposed by the domestic and external investors to the use of land for agriculture, manufacture of agricultural products, on the basis of the laws, regulations and principles enforced by the Government. 4.5 To administer, t napec t , notify and advise the institutes, groups, centres, stations, projects, technical units including the PAFS and DAFO and business units which involved in the agriculture and extensions. 4.6 To guide, encourage, monitor the implementation of the yearly plans of the institutes, groups, centres, ~tations, projects, technical units, the PAFS and DAFO and other units depending on the DAE. 4.7 To check and certify, referring to the allocated plans (auota) of export and import of the agricultural products, seeds, agrochemical substance, aquipment, agriculture machinery which managed by the farmers groups, agriculturist association, administrative units of techniques, businessmen or Lao and expatriate individuals. ~.3 To recognize the' achievement of the research in agricultural sciences within the institutes, groups, centres, stations or other organi:ations to utilize it for the further development. 4.9 To coordinate ~ith the relevant or~anizations to control the quality of the agriculture products,; this is mainly aimed at securing health of the consumers . .L,lO To examine and cer:ify the training r esu t t; in various schools, agriculture and extension ~raining centres; for decree of certificate awarding, it has to be executed by the MAF and these certificates must be signed by the school or centres . .J..11 To give the staff '/lithin the OAE leave of·. absence or leav.e on mi s s i on '/lithin the ~ountry; in case of necessity tocgo abroad i~must be approved by the MAF. CHAPTER III GUIDANCE, ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE AND ASSISTING WHEEL OF DAE Article 5: Technical guidance: The DAE comprises of 1 Director and 2 Vice Dir-ectors '/lhicn are nominated by the Minister, on the basis of defined conscience and technical standards. The 0 i recto r and Vice 0 i ree-tors have funct ions to ass is t the Minister in administering and operating of agriculture and extension concern. The Director- is directly responsible for- all the achievements, failures, shortcomings or- mistakes occurr-ed in the DAE; the vice Directors are responsible for any specific Sections of the DAE. Art.icle 6: Organization structure 6 • 1 6.2 The organization structure of the DAE is drawn up as follows. The Administration Section, The Finance, Planning and Cooper-ation Section. 6.3 The Technical Section. 6.4 Apart from the different Sections which are called the Macro level, the DAE also has various Micro technical units which function as the implementers, accordingly to the organ i zat i ona 1 1i nes, in agri cu 1ture research institutes, Agr. Extension units, Agr. machinery training centres, centres, stations, projects ... 6.5 All improvement, amendment of the organization structure both in the DAE and the 1oca 1 1eve 1 further than that already mentioned in this document, it must propose to the MAF for consideration. CHAPTER IV WORKING METHODS Article 7: The DAE operates its tasks on the basis of the following principles: 7.1 To preserve the one-head. system, on the basis of cent~~lized democracy. Lead;~~n group on the basis of the definite division of work scope; and The individual staff performs their work in accordance ·with role and tasks; and each make decisions accordingly to the authorization. 7.2 To execute all activities in accordance with the strategies, course, plans and general policies of the Government concerning the agriculture and forestry; and those strategies ... are assumed as guiding line. And implement the long term and yearly plans and periodic plans by tackling with the action plans of the MAF. The DAE has to create the projects and a wi de range of ac t i v it i es in order to effect i ve 1y enhance the above­ mentioned plans of the MAF. 7.3 To administer at the macro level, the DAE has to monitor, inspect and regularly encourage all levels of the PAFS and DAFO, technical and business units, farmers groups, agriculturist association in and organizing plans and ~ctivities in the projects sub-ordinated to the DAE. 7.4 To preserve the meet i ng, inspecting and reporting systems such as the weekly meeting and discussion of the Director, Vice Directors, heads of institutes, centres, stations. projects, other technical units ... to follow up an~ evaluate all carried out activities, draw up exjJerience, develop the highl ight of achievement and treat the failures, and regularly report to the Leading Group of the MAF. i.5 The Director of the DAE is directly responsible for all agri cu 1tura 1 and extensi on act; vi ti es and ; s· on 1y the person to give a sign on all official documents accordingly to the given r.oles. In case cf being busy or absence lor mis~ion in remote areas the Director's task s have to oe temporarily acted by'any of the Vice Directors. CHAPTER VI THE LAsr ISSUES Article 8: The DA~ of the ~AF has its speClrlC stamp for official use; concerning che specific stamps for the institutes, groups, centres, stations, projects and the relevant Sect ions in the ?Ar=S and DAFO and other techn ica1 un its, the DAE has to study and propose them to the MAF. Article 9: Th~s prescription of roles, tasks and responsibility of the Department of the Agriculture and Extension is valid and' enforced from the date of its signature. Any ccn~radictions from ~he earlier prescripcion have" to be cancelled. Vi"ent i ane, dated 29/05/1992 Mi(,llster of M.inist.ry of Agriculture and Forestry (Stamped and signed) Sisawath KE08CUNPHANH