Behind the economic forests: Lesson 1 - Warmth thanks to the forest

Editor's note: Economic forest development has become an important direction, helping to improve people's lives and reduce poverty, especially in highland communes. However, behind that development picture, there have been consequences. This topic will analyze in depth the risks and negative dangers that may occur if forest development is only for economic purposes without harmonizing with ecological environment protection.

BAC GIANG - Promoting the advantages of forests, in recent years, many localities in the province have promoted production forest planting activities with the main crops being high-yielding acacia and eucalyptus. Revenue from the forestry economy has increased annually, creating livelihoods for many households. Not only has it contributed significantly to poverty reduction and income improvement for people in mountainous areas, but there have also been many examples of people getting rich, millionaires and billionaires from forestry.

Millionaires, billionaires from the forest

Son Dong district has great potential and advantages in forestry economic development with more than 66,200 hectares of forest and forestry land (including more than 47,000 hectares of production forest). The average production forest area of ​​the district is more than 2 hectares/household. Resolution of the 26th District Party Congress, term 2020-2025, identifies that forest economic development is one of the solutions to increase income, reduce poverty, and strive to achieve 650 billion VND in revenue from the forestry sector by the end of 2025.

Production forests in Tan Moc commune (Luc Ngan) and Nam Duong commune (Chu town).

In communes with many production forests such as An Lac, Tuan Dao, Huu San, Giao Liem, Van Son, Long Son, Duong Huu, etc., the rural picture has improved a lot, people's lives have improved thanks to the important contribution from the forestry economy. Many families have escaped poverty, their children have been able to go to school, and have the conditions to buy modern equipment to serve their lives.

Mr. Nguyen Van Du's household in Ban village, Duong Huu commune (Son Dong) has more than ten hectares of acacia forest. Recently, he exploited 2 hectares, after deducting expenses, he still made a profit of more than 200 million VND. Mr. Du said: "With the current selling price of acacia wood, each hectare brings in 160 million VND per cycle. This is the main source of income for my family. Compared to other types of trees in the locality, planting forests is more economically efficient. By planting forests and exploiting them in the inter-crop period, my family will take turns exploiting them every year, ensuring a stable source of income. From there, we will have the conditions to take care of our children's education, build a spacious house and buy a car worth hundreds of millions of VND."

Taking us to visit the vast eucalyptus forests near Am Vai Pagoda, Nam Duong Commune (Chu Town), Mr. Than Van Cuong - a forest owner here said: "People have now realized the huge benefits from forestry trees, so they have paid attention to investing in seeds, fertilizers, and using mechanization in production. After exploitation, they urgently clear the ground cover to plant new ones or take care of the next cycle of shoots. Even many people from other places come to the locality to buy land and hire workers to plant, but the economy and high prices of forest land make it difficult for people to sell."

People of Nam Duong commune (Chu town) exploit planted forest wood.

Deo Gia Commune (Luc Ngan) has more than 1,000 households, of which the Cao Lan ethnic group accounts for 78%. Over the years, the people here have known how to take advantage of the forest economy to rise up. The whole commune has more than 3,000 hectares of planted forests, the revenue from exploiting planted forests reaches tens of billions of VND each year. Many families earn hundreds of millions of VND, some even earn billions of VND after each cycle of exploiting acacia and eucalyptus. Although it is a mountainous commune with a majority of ethnic minorities, thanks to the forest economy, more and more villas and spacious high-rise buildings have appeared here, creating a prosperous life.

From economic forestry, in the province, there have appeared many billionaires with revenue from several billion to several tens of billions of VND each year, typically including the household of Mr. Nguyen Van Muoi, Nam Duong commune (Chu town); Mr. Le Minh Tuan, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, all in Dong Hung commune (Luc Nam); Mr. Nguyen Van Dieu, Xuan Luong commune (Yen The)... Some enterprises produce and trade effectively from forestry economy, creating many jobs for workers such as: Luc Ngan Forestry Two-member Limited Liability Company; Yen The Forestry Two-member Limited Liability Company.

Due to the high efficiency of economic afforestation, the afforestation movement, especially in ethnic minority areas, has spread widely. Currently, the forestry economy has become an important support for mountainous and highland districts. For example, in Son Dong, in 2024, despite being heavily affected by storm No. 3, the timber output still reached more than 674 thousand m3, the forestry production value reached 890 billion VND, an increase of 50 billion VND compared to 2023, creating jobs and income for more than 15 thousand workers. In Yen The district, last year the forestry production value reached 640 billion VND; Luc Nam district reached 255 billion VND... Thereby, it can be affirmed that the forest economy is extremely important in the socio-economic development of localities.

Promote intensive farming and apply new technology

In order to achieve high economic efficiency in forest planting, in recent years, Bac Giang province has had a policy to promote forestry production development, creating livelihoods for people attached to forests. In addition to land and forest allocation, the State focuses on producing quality seedlings, supporting seedlings, transferring science and technology, and processes of planting and caring for forestry trees to people.

Economic forest of Yen The Forestry Two-Member Limited Liability Company.

Nowadays, the level of forestry cultivation of the people has been greatly improved, not inferior to that of forestry companies. Many households have used machines in stages such as digging holes, leveling, weeding, cleaning the ground, and lawn mowers. At the same time, people have introduced new varieties with high productivity and quality produced by tissue culture and cuttings into forest planting, contributing to improving the productivity and quality of planted forests.

Forest owners have promoted the application of science and technology in forest care and intensive cultivation to create a source of raw materials that ensures quantity and quality to meet the processing and export markets. The main forest tree species grown in the province include: Acacia mangium, Acacia hybrid, Acacia hybrid cuttings and Eucalyptus hybrid. Thereby, concentrated raw material forest growing areas have been formed to serve the wood processing industry, concentrated in the districts of Son Dong, Luc Ngan, Luc Nam and Yen The.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the province currently has more than 157 thousand hectares, of which more than 120 thousand hectares are production forests, the rest are protective forests, special-use forests and unforested land planned for forestry purposes. Basically, the forest and forestry land areas have been assigned and leased for management and use and are classified according to the management owners including: Protective and special-use forest management boards; companies, enterprises, economic organizations; households, and residential communities. Each year, the province plants from 8 to 8.5 thousand hectares of concentrated forests and from 3 to 3.5 million scattered trees.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hau, Deputy Head of the Forest Protection Sub-Department (Department of Agriculture and Environment) affirmed that the economic efficiency of planted forests is increasing day by day, the forestry profession has created many jobs, with stable income for local people, especially in mountainous districts and highlands; the efficiency and income from the forest economy are increasingly affirmed, contributing to poverty reduction, increasing income and enriching the people, making an important contribution to the socio-economic development of the province.

In 2024 alone, the whole province exploited more than 11,300 hectares of concentrated planted forests, the total exploited wood output was more than 1.4 million m3, the average wood output reached about 125 m3/ha/5 years, an increase of 324,349 m3 compared to 2023; the forestry production value reached 2,363 billion VND, an increase of 7.4% compared to 2023.

In particular, currently in the province there are nearly 5 thousand hectares of eucalyptus plantations with a productivity of over 30 m3/ha/cycle, with an individual area reaching 40 m3/ha/cycle. Thereby making Bac Giang the leading locality in the Northern Midlands and Mountains region in exploiting planted forest timber.

Along with the development of economic forests, the whole province currently has 992 forest product processing businesses. The wood materials used for production are mainly domestic planted wood and a small amount of imported wood; the products are mostly peeled boards, chipboard, plywood, formwork, and household wooden furniture. In addition to serving the domestic construction and household needs, some businesses have directly exported processed wood products such as plywood and veneer to foreign countries, creating jobs and income for many local workers.

However, according to the assessment of the authorities, currently most people plant timber forests with short-term cycles, and investment in planting large timber forests is still low, leaving negative consequences for the environment. Illegal forest conversion occurs in some organizations and units assigned to forests, and the awareness of some households is not high; the situation of exploitation, encroachment on forests, and violations of forestry laws reduces the area of ​​natural forests, affects water resources and the environment, and greatly impacts social life... These are issues for the authorities in the work of planning, managing and developing sustainable forests.

(To be continued)

Economic Reporters Group

Source: https://baobacgiang.vn/phia-sau-nhung-canh-rung-kinh-te-bai-1-no-am-nho-rung-postid420564.bbg