The person who "pays back" the forest.

In the days leading up to Tet (Lunar New Year), when the gentle spring breeze arrives, Mr. Le Phuc Nhat, from Phuong An 2 village, Cam Nghia commune, Cam Lo district, is busy preparing for a new reforestation project. Few know that this diligent man, who sows these forests, once cleared natural forests to seize land for cultivation and paid the price with a suspended prison sentence. After serving his sentence, he has done everything he can to restore the greenery to the forests.

The forest planted with hybrid acacia seedlings supplied by the Keo Son Sustainable Forestry Cooperative is growing and developing well - Photo: LT

A debt to the forest...

Born and raised in the red basalt soil region of Cua, Mr. Nhat struggled to make a living from farming and the mountains. After getting married, due to extremely difficult circumstances and lack of employment, he and his relatives jointly cultivated over 1 hectare of acacia forest. However, that was not enough to support his family. In desperation, in 2015, Mr. Nhat cleared and encroached on an additional 0.8 hectares of natural forest next to his cultivated land to plant acacia trees.

Nhat's actions were discovered by authorities, leading to his trial and a sentence of 15 months of suspended imprisonment, 36 months of probation, and a fine of 65 million VND for destroying natural forests. "At that time, I was completely devastated, partly because of shame and partly because I was worried about my family's future. But during my time serving my sentence, I realized my mistakes and started thinking more positively, realizing that after serving my sentence, I had to do something to develop the economy in an honest way, without violating state regulations," Nhat recounted.

Mr. Le Phuc Nhat (wearing a hat) instructs locals on how to care for acacia trees planted using a method that avoids burning the undergrowth - Photo: LT

After serving his sentence, with his limited knowledge of forestry seedlings, Mr. Nhat discussed with his wife borrowing 100 million VND from the District Social Policy Bank to build a nursery for acacia seedlings. “At that time, I simply thought that I lived off the forest and had made a mistake by destroying it, so now I had to ‘repay’ the forest, and also make a living from it. To do this, I searched online, taught myself about seedling cultivation, and visited nurseries inside and outside the province to gain experience,” Mr. Nhat confided.

Initially, he experimented with propagating about 500,000 hybrid acacia seedlings using the cutting method. Thanks to careful care, the trees grew well and were accepted by local people for planting. Recognizing the significant demand for this type of seedling, Mr. Nhat boldly expanded production. In 2020, he and other members in the commune established the Keo Son Sustainable Forestry Cooperative with 11 initial members; now the cooperative has over 25 official members and 125 households involved in production.

Nurturing green shoots

Since its inception, the Keo Son Sustainable Forestry Cooperative has supplied millions of seedlings of various types to local people. Mr. Nhat shared that after its establishment, the cooperative focused on providing high-quality forestry seedlings, along with support services and forestry consulting. In 2022, with the support of the National Agricultural Extension Center, he and the cooperative members collaborated with the provincial Agricultural Extension Center to build an improved nursery model to produce the first tissue-cultured hybrid acacia seedlings in the area, serving member households participating in large-timber forest planting projects with sustainable forest management certification (FSC).

Locals trust and use hybrid acacia seedlings propagated by the Keo Son Sustainable Forestry Cooperative - Photo: LT

With the task of supplying mother tree materials, the Keo Son Sustainable Forestry Cooperative provides over 300,000 seedlings annually to nurseries throughout the province and more than 1 million seedlings to meet the planting capacity of 400 hectares of new forest per year.

By focusing on consolidating and expanding the scale of its seedling nurseries using tissue culture technology, the Keo Son Sustainable Forestry Cooperative, through its support services including seedlings, fertilizers, planting and care techniques, consulting on converting small-scale plantation timber to large-scale FSC-certified timber, and product procurement, is currently managing 127 hectares of production forest belonging to 22 member households and 1,000 hectares of forest in partnership with 500 forest owners in Cam Lo district.

According to Mr. Nhat, the process of growing seedlings using tissue culture requires very complex techniques and a longer time than traditional methods. However, using this method results in fewer pests and diseases, and the quality of wood for processing is many times better than seedlings grown from cuttings, because the trees grow quickly, have a strong taproot system, and are suitable for large-scale timber forest planting models. With suitable seedlings, in 2023, Mr. Nhat boldly advised the Cooperative's Board of Directors to expand cooperation with non- governmental organizations and projects on sustainable forest management and protection to pioneer the implementation of a forest planting method without burning undergrowth using the tissue-cultured hybrid acacia seedlings they produced themselves.

As a member of the Keo Son Sustainable Forestry Cooperative, Mr. Le Hai Binh's family in Hoan Cat village, Cam Nghia commune, participated in planting 2 hectares of FSC-certified forest plantations since August 2023 using a no-burn method with tissue-cultured acacia seedlings. With the support of over 4,000 seedlings from the cooperative, Mr. Binh's plantation is currently growing and developing well, with trees reaching heights of 60-80 cm. According to Mr. Binh, planting forests without clearing the land or burning the undergrowth offers many advantages over the old method of clearing. Clearing undergrowth incurs costs; conversely, no-burning plantations require less expense, yield 20-30 tons more timber, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions – a prerequisite for participating in and maintaining FSC forest certification. Consequently, the selling price will be significantly higher than that of traditionally planted forests.

According to Le Huu Phuong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Cam Nghia commune, Le Phuc Nhat, who was once involved in forest destruction, has overcome his past mistakes and rebuilt his life from scratch, achieving the success he enjoys today. He is a shining example of successful entrepreneurship that we are promoting for the people in the commune to follow. Therefore, the local authorities always create the best conditions for the Keo Son Sustainable Forestry Cooperative to operate and expand its scale, such as: leasing or borrowing land to implement nursery models and mother tree seedling gardens; connecting the cooperative with preferential loan sources; and supporting the cooperative in developing a project for a high-quality, environmentally friendly forestry seedling nursery.

Through these projects, Mr. Nhat has created jobs for dozens of local people at two tree nurseries managed by the Keo Son Sustainable Forestry Cooperative. His efforts, along with those of the members, have led to the continuous development and expansion of the Keo Son Sustainable Forestry Cooperative in the field of silviculture and forestry.

And so, Nhật's journey of "repaying his debt" to the forest will continue...

Le Truong

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/kinh-te/nguoi-tra-no-rung/183098.htm