Solution of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
Although the shortcomings and violations have been clarified, according to the assessment of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Report No. 249 / BC-SNN.KL dated June 7, 2024, wood chipping activities in the province have positive aspects. That is, it has brought about certain economic and social effects such as consuming most of the raw wood from planted forests in the province; providing raw materials for wood production and processing industries; creating more jobs for people participating in the process of exploiting, transporting and processing planted wood. At the same time, promoting the movement of planting raw forests, gradually improving the lives and incomes of forest growers, contributing to stabilizing the socio-economy, national security and defense in rural and mountainous areas. In addition, making the most of wood products (branches, twigs, waste products after the production of peeled wood, laminated boards, etc.); create significant economic resources, contributing to the overall development of the province.
Analyzing the reasons for the existence, according to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, is because the province has over 228,435 hectares of planted forests, most of which are acacia forests. The wood processing and chipping facilities built and operating in the area are based on the actual local needs to solve the huge demand for acacia raw material consumption for households, individuals planting forests, and State forest owners. On the other hand, the location of these facilities is close to the acacia raw material area, convenient for exploitation and transportation, minimizing costs, thereby increasing the price of raw wood; solving jobs, income, and life for workers and forest growers.
In addition, the legal awareness of some business owners, especially business households, is still limited, they have borrowed capital, mortgaged banks to invest heavily, and built wood chipping facilities without completing all required procedures. On the part of local authorities, in some districts and communes, the responsibility of state management has not been strictly implemented; violations have not been promptly inspected, detected, and prevented as soon as they arise, leading to a situation where some organizations and individuals have invested a lot of money to build wood chipping facilities on agricultural and forestry land. The process of inspection and handling of violations has not been thorough and resolute, leading to the situation where the inspected facility owners do not comply, or do not fully comply with the penalty decision, causing public outrage.
Assessing the positive aspects, pointing out the existing causes and limitations, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recommended that the Provincial People's Committee direct the Departments, branches, the Management Board of the Southeast Economic Zone and the People's Committees of districts and towns to strengthen state management and implement a number of specific solutions. Notably, it is recommended that the Provincial People's Committee direct the Department of Planning and Investment to preside over and coordinate with departments and branches to advise the Provincial People's Committee on documents approving investment policies, approving adjustments to investment policies, approving investors, approving investment policies and approving investors for projects related to forest product processing activities, especially wood chip processing activities.
To the People's Committees of districts and towns with wood chip processing facilities, it is recommended to strengthen state management in all fields; regularly conduct inspections to detect, prevent, rectify, handle/advise timely and decisive handling of violations of wood chip processing and processing facilities, in accordance with legal regulations; absolutely do not let violations drag on, causing difficulties in handling. It is recommended to monitor and urge facilities that have been administratively sanctioned to comply with sanction decisions; verify and enforce cases that meet the conditions for enforcement.
At the same time, request establishments with wood chipping activities to fully and seriously comply with the provisions of the law. Review the activities of their establishments to promptly supplement and complete missing documents and procedures to operate production and business in accordance with the law. At the same time, coordinate with local authorities and competent agencies to handle and remedy the consequences of violations that have been pointed out.
The alarm bell needs to be sounded!
Because the Standing Vice President of the Provincial Association of Wood Processing and Non-Timber Forest Products, Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam, used to be the Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, we requested to clarify some of the contents of the petition in Document No. 05/HHCBG&LS dated July 20, 2023.
According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam, the contribution of the forestry sector to the economic development of the province has not changed much, and is even showing signs of slowing down. Regarding the Association's recommendation to the Provincial People's Committee, it is not intended to hinder or cause difficulties for organizations and individuals who wish to organize production and business in the wood industry. The reason is that the Enterprise Law does not state that the wood industry is a conditional business. Mr. Lam said: "The Association's intention is not to recommend the Provincial People's Committee to ban the organization of the wood industry, but that the production of the wood industry must comply with the Enterprise Law, which means that business registration is required. And the conditions for business registration are having land, human resources, machinery, etc. Enterprises that want to do business in the wood industry must work with the Department of Planning and Investment to be granted a business establishment license according to regulations. But currently in the province, there are a number of organizations and units that have not registered for a business license and have not fulfilled their obligations according to regulations. The Wood Association's intention is to pay attention to handling this issue."
Before this exchange of Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam, the question was asked: Why did the Association cite the content of "not investing in building new cassava, pulp, and wood-chip processing factories" in the conclusion from 2011, with an implementation period until 2015, to propose the Provincial People's Committee to implement. While this conclusion is not necessarily consistent with the reality of current forestry economic development? Surprisingly, Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam recognized that Conclusion No. 02 - KL/TU dated May 13, 2011 was no longer appropriate at the present stage. Mr. Lam replied: "Conclusion No. 02 was issued at that time and was appropriate, but now it must be reviewed and amended because the Enterprise Law does not prohibit wood-chip activities. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has also proposed to amend this document several times, but the document has not been amended, so it must be implemented, because if the document is still in effect and is not strictly implemented, it is not allowed...".
Citing the records in Bai Tranh area and Nghi Son port of Thanh Hoa province, he wondered about the solution to use the province's abundant acacia wood resources to become export products, thereby avoiding waste and increasing revenue for the budget. According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam, the main responsibility for this content belongs to the Department of Industry and Trade. Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial Association of Wood Processing and Non-Timber Forest Products, said: "The Department of Industry and Trade must answer the Provincial People's Committee about this question. Because the Department of Industry and Trade manages processing, the number of factories must be balanced with the Department of Planning and Investment. It is necessary to ring a bell to let the Provincial People's Committee know about this matter. If there is no synchronous solution to solve it, especially synchronous in a policy, the problem will not be solved...".
We need to ring the bell to let the Provincial People’s Committee know about this matter. If there is no synchronous solution to solve it, especially synchronous in a policy, the problem will not be solved…”.
Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam
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According to statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, with a total area of 228,435 hectares of planted forests, most of which are acacia, the whole province has 45 wood processing enterprises, 98 enterprises producing non-timber forest products, and 3 biomass pellet factories. The export turnover value in 2023 reached 270.25 million USD, the growth rate of forestry production value reached 6.67%. Perhaps, for some people, these numbers are impressive. However, through our actual survey in the recent past, it is showing that the number of enterprises meeting the consumption of raw acacia wood in the province can be counted on the fingers, and this is the reason why the forestry industry has not made a truly commensurate contribution to the position of a locality with the largest forest area in the country.
According to Mr. Nguyen Danh Hung - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the demand for output for planted forest products in Nghe An is very large. Therefore, the Department has advised on planning suitable production material areas to ensure production development, at the same time, has advised on many documents and given opinions on many forest product production and processing projects in the area, in which priority is given to deep processing projects, producing high-value products. Agreeing with this exchange, as well as some solutions of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Report No. 249 / BC-SNN.KL dated June 7, 2024 mentioned above. But as the Standing Vice President of the Provincial Association of Wood Processing and Non-Timber Forest Products, Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam, discussed, it is necessary to ring an alarm bell. Because of this content, it needs to be given due attention, and not only by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development!
