More than 80% of the acacia area in Nghe An sold is young acacia.
(Baonghean.vn) - Nghe An currently has over 165,000 hectares of raw acacia, annually harvesting over 30,000 hectares of acacia, of which over 80% of the area sold is young acacia. Experts say that if there is no change, Nghe An's wood industry will hardly be able to survive sustainably.
At this time, when coming to Chau Thai commune, Quy Hop, we saw trucks bustling along the road to buy young acacia. Mr. Luong Van Thanh in Dong Minh village, Chau Thai commune said: His family harvested more than 4 hectares of acacia, earning 70 million VND/ha, but the transportation fee "ate" it all. Because there was no road to get raw materials, we had to hire people to cut and carry them to the tractor to "increase the profit" and lost more than 20 million VND, which means there was only less than 50 million VND/ha of acacia left.
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| Massive cutting and selling of young acacia trees in Chau Thai commune, Quy Hop. Photo: Van Truong |
Mr. Vi Van Vinh - Chairman of Chau Thai Commune People's Committee added: The whole Chau Thai commune currently has 1,200 hectares of raw material forest, annually exploiting 200 - 300 hectares. Exploiting young forests leads to low economic efficiency, the commune has mobilized and propagated people to use long-term exploitation cycles but it is very difficult, because the capital for planting forests is paid by the people themselves. While no enterprise has signed a contract to consume products with people growing large raw wood, currently private traders prefer small wood for chipping, so people sell young acacia.
The development of hybrid acacia trees is highly valued by the locality, acacia trees help create stable jobs for workers. Currently, Quy Hop district has over 13,000 hectares of raw material forests, exploiting 3,000-4,000 hectares annually. To develop acacia trees sustainably, the district has requested raw material purchasing companies to have investment policies and contracts to purchase products from planted forests. In particular, capital investment for people to plant large timber forests to improve efficiency, helping people feel secure in planting forests.
In Quy Chau district, the sale of young acacia trees also occurs quite often. Although it has not yet reached the exploitation cycle, due to lack of capital for production investment and the need to cover living expenses, many forest growers in Quy Chau have to sell young forests. The consequences are low productivity, low prices, and decreased profits.
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| Young acacia trees as small as a wrist were cut down and sold. Photo: Van Truong |
Chau Binh commune has over 500 hectares of acacia, annually harvesting 100 - 120 hectares of acacia, most of which are under-aged. Mr. Nguyen Nam in Chau Binh commune (Quy Chau) said that his family has just sold 5 hectares of acacia, nearly 4 years old, at a price of 1 million VND/ton, his family only earned nearly 40 million VND/ha after deducting investment costs and care costs.
According to Mr. Le Hai Ly - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quy Chau district, the whole district has over 20,000 hectares of acacia forest, annually harvesting over 2,000 hectares of acacia, most of which are young acacia. For areas of acacia harvested not in the right exploitation cycle, profits will decrease by about 20 million VND/ha. Currently, the locality has directed communes to carry out propaganda and explanation work so that people understand the losses when selling young acacia.
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| Young acacia trees are transported from Quy Chau district to Thanh Hoa for sale. Photo: Van Truong |
It is undeniable that the woodchip industry creates motivation for afforestation and short-term income for farmers, increasing the area of commercial forest plantations in Nghe An to over 165,000 hectares. However, the development of the woodchip industry is also seriously affecting the large source of wood materials for the wood processing industry.
Nghe An needs to have policies such as providing loans and rice support for forest owners, thereby converting a part of the forest area planted with small timber into large timber, improving the productivity and quality of planted forests. There needs to be a mechanism to encourage companies and corporations to participate in investing in supporting forest owners and people in planting raw forest, and consuming products to create a stable and quality source of raw materials to avoid the situation of people selling young acacia. Strengthening strict management of businesses competing to buy young forest wood, and gradually reducing the chopping of young acacia wood chips...
"Planting" over 1,200 hectares of large timber forest in Nghe An
(Baonghean.vn) - Taking advantage of favorable weather, many localities in Nghe An are currently making efforts to close the autumn forest planting season, including a number of forestry units implementing large timber forest planting.
Promoting the advantages of large timber plantation
(Baonghean) - Effectively promoting the advantages of forests and forest land to develop forestry economy into a sustainable profession for people in many localities in Nghe An. Besides promoting the linkage to develop raw material areas with processing enterprises, expanding the forest area for large timber business brings high economic value.
