Desire in the green forest

Walking among the vast green of production forests in the districts of Nhu Thanh, Nhu Xuan, Thuong Xuan, Lang Chanh, Thach Thanh..., we heard more stories of the desire to get rich from the forest. On the barren and rocky land, thanks to the efforts and intelligence of people, the green of life and peace in the vast wilderness spreads more and more...

Desire in the green forest Large timber plantation model in Xuan Thai commune (Nhu Thanh).

Implementing the forestry innovation in the direction of developing social forestry, from mainly exploiting forests, now it has shifted to using forests as an impact object for economic development, helping people of all ethnic groups to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and get rich from forests. Special-use forests are invested and strictly protected, where there are still rich forest resources with many rare and precious forest products. Protective forests are protected and developed better and better. Planted forests are expanded in scale and crop structure, gradually shifting to using tissue-cultured varieties for high productivity, planting large timber forests to serve domestic consumption and export, forming raw wood areas.

Thanh Hoa strives to plant, develop and maintain 56,000 hectares of forest that meets the standards of large timber forests according to the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the period of 2021-2025. To achieve that result, the province has implemented many solutions to improve the quality and efficiency of large timber forests and form a sustainable forestry product chain.

Following the tree-lined roads, we visited the forest farm of Mr. Le Duy Hai's family in Khe Cat village, Thanh Tan commune (Nhu Thanh), an effective and creative model of developing large-scale timber plantations, demonstrating the efforts and dedication of the workers. Welcoming us in an excited mood, Mr. Hai enthusiastically shared: "The family has been contracted for forestry land with an area of 12.6 hectares since 2018. Up to now, the family has planted and cared for 12.6 hectares of large-scale timber forest, including 2.6 hectares of hybrid acacia with the family's own investment capital...".

Looking over the forest, Director of the Forest Protection Management Board (FPMB) of Như Thanh, Nguyen Van Dung, and many officers and workers, shared: The FPMB of Như Thanh has been proactively implementing solutions to form concentrated, specialized, and intensive production forest planting areas, large-scale commodity forest product planting areas, linking forest planting with processing and forest product consumption markets, improving production efficiency, forest use, attracting and creating more jobs, increasing income for forest workers, and protecting the ecological environment. The focus is on planting forests with high-quality forestry trees and tissue-cultured trees, increasing income value for forest owners.

From 2015 to March 2024,

The Nhu Thanh Forest Management Board has provided technical guidance; provided seedlings; organized households to contract forestry production land to plant new and replant exploited forests according to regulations, over 3,950 hectares of production forest. The new feature is that in 3 years (2021-2023), the board has planted 168 hectares of tissue-cultured acacia trees, 40 hectares of cinnamon trees...

In recent years, the whole province has deployed dozens of models of intensive large-scale timber plantation in the districts of Nhu Thanh, Nhu Xuan, Lang Chanh, Thuong Xuan, etc. to propagate and guide people to replicate on a large scale. Through monitoring and evaluation by specialized agencies, it is shown that large-scale timber plantations achieve the highest growth rate in the period from 8 to 12 years old. Through the model of converting acacia forests to large-scale timber trading, the average total forest reserve reaches about 250m3/ha, the average revenue reaches about 350 million VND/ha/cycle. Meanwhile, small wood for paper raw materials (chips) is more than 1.1 million VND/ton, averaging from 90 to 130 million VND/ha/2 small wood cycles. On the same forest area, converting small timber forest into large timber business forest takes about 5-7 years longer than small timber but the economic value is 2.5-3 times higher than continuously implementing 2 small timber business cycles. Large timber business reduces the number of times of exploitation and reforestation, contributing to reducing erosion, protecting the environment and combating climate change.

By March 2024, Thanh Hoa had a total area of 56,000 hectares of large timber plantations. The main tree species grown are Australian acacia, tung, xoan ta, green lim, lat hoa, etc., which have been well cared for, protected, and developed. The whole province has 20,149.18 hectares of plantations (bamboo, bamboo) in Thach Thanh, Quan Hoa, and Quan Son districts that have been granted the Sustainable Forest Management Certificate (FSC) by the International Forestry Association (GFA), contributing to increasing the added value of the forestry industry. Many households in mountainous areas have invested in building large timber plantation and BVR farms combined with short-term crops, bringing high income. When the plantations reach the time for exploitation according to regulations, the forest owners will supplement the area of new large timber forests.

However, developing large-scale timber forests in Thanh Hoa is facing many difficulties. The degraded transport infrastructure in mountainous areas has been hindering the attraction of investment capital from enterprises. The business cycle is long and the investment capital is large, so only households with enough capital and large areas have the conditions to develop large timber forests. Natural disasters such as storms, floods, prolonged droughts... can cause damage to forest owners...

To achieve the goal by 2025, the whole province will stably develop a large timber business area of about 56,000 hectares, meeting the demand for large timber for deep processing and export, the Provincial People's Committee has assigned the departments, branches, functional agencies and the People's Committees of districts to synchronously implement solutions from planning to organizing planting, care, exploitation and processing of forest products; propagating and mobilizing people to mobilize all social resources for the development of large timber forest business. In order to support organizations and individuals planting production forests using tissue cultured trees, on December 10, 2021, the Provincial People's Council issued Resolution No. 185/2021/NQ-HDND on promulgating policies for agricultural, rural and farmer development in Thanh Hoa province, period 2022-2025. Accordingly, the support level is 1,300 VND/seedling, not exceeding 2 million VND/ha. Support conditions: organizations, families, and individuals are allocated land by the State, leased land, or contracted production forest land to plant production forests. The area of production forests planted with tissue cultured seedlings must be at least 1 hectare for households and individuals, and at least 20 hectares for organizations.

Talking to us, Deputy Head of Thanh Hoa Forest Protection Department Thieu Van Luc said: Implementing policies to support concentrated forest planting using tissue-cultured trees, the result is that in 3 years (2021-2023), the whole province has planted over 5,000 hectares of concentrated forest using tissue-cultured trees. The entire forest area planted using tissue-cultured trees is being cared for, protected, growing and developing well. The Forest Protection Department has directed units that are state forest owners and forest protection units to proactively plan seed sources and nursery systems of forestry seedlings to ensure quality for forest planting; provide technical guidance on new forest planting. Propagate and mobilize people and forest owners to implement sustainable forest business models that mix large timber trees with short-cycle tree species to ensure immediate income for forest owners when large timber forests are not yet ready for exploitation. Focus on directing localities and forest owners to strengthen management and use of high-quality forestry varieties in large timber plantations (tissue-cultured trees) and apply intensive afforestation measures to improve productivity and quality of planted forests. Direct the successful completion of technical design of silvicultural works; prepare the site for planting 10,000 hectares of new concentrated forests in 2024, of which 1,500 hectares will be planted with tissue-cultured trees. The Department continues to advise the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to urge the People's Committees of districts to effectively implement policies to support production forest planting with tissue-cultured trees. Attract businesses to invest in afforestation projects along the chain from production to processing, building raw material areas through supporting forest growers to purchase products.

With the determination of the Provincial People's Committee and the "participation" of sectors and localities, along with the will, determination, daring to think, daring to do, and the desire to get rich of the people in the beloved green forest, the efficiency of planted forests has been improved, creating a breakthrough in the development of forestry economy, contributing to protecting the "green lung" of the province.

Thuy Duong

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