Kien Moc: Getting rich from the forest

People of Ban Quay village, Kien Moc commune clear grass in pine forest

Kien Moc commune currently has 1,721 households, whose lives mainly depend on agricultural and forestry production.

Ms. Nong Thi Hau, Party cell secretary and head of Na Tang village, said: The village currently has 50 households with 212 people. Since 1998, with the propaganda and guidance of the Party Committee and the commune government, the villagers have developed pine plantation. In addition, in the past 4 years, the villagers have invested in developing acacia and eucalyptus plantation. Thanks to that, 100% of the villagers' households have developed forest plantation with an area of over 100 hectares of pine, nearly 40 hectares of acacia, eucalyptus and more than 10 hectares of anise. From exploiting pine resin, anise and planted forest wood, the villagers have an income of 60 to more than 250 million VND/household/year.

Similar to Na Tang village, Ban Quay is also an area with strong development of hill and forest economy . The whole village currently has 15 households, all of which have high income from forest planting. Small planting households have from 5 to 6 hectares; large planting households are managing from 60 to 80 hectares of forest. Ms. To Thi Son, Ban Quay village said: Since around 2000, the family has planted more than 2.5 hectares of pine. After planting, the family regularly checks, cares for, prevents pests and diseases, conducts pruning and clears the ground cover. With suitable climate and soil conditions, the family's pine forest has developed very well, and every year the family expands the planting area. Thanks to that, the family now has over 65 hectares of pine, with an output of more than 50 tons of resin per year. In addition, my family also takes care of about 10 hectares of anise, with an output of 2 to 3 tons per year. From developing forestry, the family has an income of 500 to 600 million VND/year.

Coming to Kien Moc commune today, it is not difficult to witness the immense green of the forest stretching along the border. According to statistics, the whole commune currently has 23,524 hectares of pine, of which 17,000 hectares have been exploited for resin, with an output of 6,000 to 13,000 tons/year. In addition, the whole commune currently has over 977 hectares of anise, with an output of about 600 tons of fresh wood/year. Besides, the area has about 1,390 hectares of eucalyptus, 2,842 hectares of acacia... This is the commune with the largest planted forest area in Dinh Lap district (old).

To achieve the above results, in recent years, the Party Committee, the communal government, the Bac Xa Border Guard Station and the 461 Forestry Farm under the 338 National Defense Economic Group have oriented and supported people with seedlings and care techniques. With the active propaganda and mobilization of the Party Committee, the communal government and the army stationed in the area, people have realized that afforestation is a sustainable direction. Accordingly, every year, the whole commune has planted over 700 hectares of new forest, mainly pine, acacia...

Mr. Hoang Van Hoi, Chairman of Kien Moc Commune People's Committee, said: Determining forestry development as the main direction and the key solution to improve people's lives, in recent years, the Party Committee and the commune government have focused on orienting and propagating people to develop sustainable forests. Commune organizations and unions actively support and guide people to access preferential capital sources. The whole commune currently has 761 households borrowing capital from the Social Policy Bank with a total outstanding debt of 60 billion VND, of which over 80% of the total outstanding debt is borrowed by people to develop afforestation.

Afforestation has contributed to increasing people's income and reducing the poverty rate in the area. Through review and assessment, the average income per capita in the commune is currently 39.74 million VND/person/year; the poverty rate of the whole commune is 1.57%, down 27.6% compared to 2021. The whole commune currently has over 90% of the total number of households developing afforestation. Of which, about 50% of households planting forests have an income of 100 million VND/household/year or more; households managing many forests have a high income of 500 to 700 million VND/year; the material and spiritual life of the people is increasingly improved.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/kien-moc-phat-huy-the-manh-trong-rung-5064539.html