Urgently allocate forestry land to people

(Baonghean) - People in Quy Chau district are living off the forest, considering it a source of livelihood to escape poverty. Therefore, the district's policy of allocating forest land to people to stabilize production is receiving high approval from the people.

PForest economic development has long been identified as a strength of Quy Chau district. The Resolution of the 24th District Party Congress, term 2011-2015, determined: Investment and development of raw material forests is a key economic sector. Although the district has great potential with nearly 77,000 hectares of forested forestry land for forest economic development, in reality, the values ​​of forests for people's lives are still very low. In particular, the situation of people living near forests but having no land for production, not being allocated land, having to work for hire to make a living exists in many villages and communes.

People of Khoang village, Chau Binh commune met to discuss land division plan.

After the incident of hundreds of people in Chau Binh commune arbitrarily entering the forest to cut down trees and encroach on forest land, the Provincial People's Committee decided to review the current land use status at agricultural and forestry farms and the Protective Forest Management Board in the area. After reviewing, the Provincial People's Committee decided to reclaim 2,341.9 hectares, of which 1,753.5 hectares were reclaimed from Co Ba Forest Farm and 588.5 hectares were reclaimed from the Protective Forest Management Board and transferred to the local management for people to produce. The District People's Committee established a team to hand over land in the field to the People's Committees of communes for management in accordance with regulations. It can be said that the decision of the Provincial People's Committee helped Quy Chau district to solve the "bottleneck" of the problem of people lacking land for production for a long time.

To help the locality speed up the land allocation process, the Provincial People's Committee has a policy to allocate funds to hire 3 consulting units to help the district in measuring, determining boundaries, and preparing documents. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment sent staff to directly guide and help the district to promptly speed up the progress before November 30, reporting to the Provincial People's Committee. Mr. Tran Bao Linh, Deputy Head of the District Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said: With the viewpoint that families and individuals who are qualified but do not have land for production, the district will divide the area of ​​​​forest land that has not been allocated according to the number of households approved by the commune to ensure full allocation to the people. When allocating land in the field, the form of drawing lots will be applied; the family or individual who draws which lot will be allocated that plot of land.

The total area of ​​forestry land to be allocated in the district this time is 14,406.6 hectares, the number of households to be allocated is 4,300 households in 10 communes. By November 20, 8/10 communes have completed the field allocation of land to the people. Specifically, in Chau Phong commune, the division of land plots on the map and the field allocation of forestry land have been completed for 19/19 villages with a total of 752 households/873 plots of land. The total area allocated is 4097.9 hectares. Dien Lam commune has completed the field allocation of forestry land for 12/12 villages with a total of 392 households/392 plots of land with a total area of ​​1663.9 hectares; Conducted statistics and prepared records of 122 plots/122 households and individuals with a total area of ​​466.1 hectares temporarily allocated forestry land in 2003 to serve the declaration and registration of land use management certificates...

The joy of the people who were allocated land cannot be fully expressed, because for them this is a long-standing wish. Mr. Lang Van Ha, Chau Phong commune, shared: “For more than ten years, my wife, husband and children have had to work for hire to make a living, and have been poor forever. Now that the State has allocated land, my family will buy acacia trees to plant and buy cows to raise, hoping that the economy will develop more and my children will be fully taken care of. Sharing the same joy, Mr. Lang Van Son's family, Khoang village, Chau Binh commune, said: “The family's long-standing wish to have forest land for production has now come true. We will try to promote the value of forest land to increase income and improve our lives.”

In addition to the joy, the households receiving forestry land this time cannot help but have worries and concerns. Most of the areas that the farms, forestry farms and the Forest Protection Management Board returned to the district to allocate to households were leopard skin forest areas, difficult to produce or located far away and difficult to travel. Moreover, because the allocated land area was small, but the number of families receiving land was large, each family received less than 1 hectare. For example, in Khoang village, Chau Binh commune, the total number of households approved was 82 but only 52 hectares were allocated. In other words, each household only received about 0.7 hectares of land. Mr. Lang Van Nhat, Head of Khoang village, said: “The areas assigned to the villagers are 5 km away and have no roads. Of the 52 hectares assigned, about 5 hectares are used to build roads to transport raw materials. People are worried that when it comes to harvest time, transportation will be very difficult and traders will easily force down prices, so the economic value received will not be worth much…”.

Up to this point, only two communes, Chau Binh and Chau Hanh, have not completed the work of allocating forestry land to the people. In Chau Hanh commune, more than 2,000 hectares have been allocated out of a total area of ​​about 4,000 hectares that need to be allocated. With the above progress, Chau Hanh is likely to not meet the district's requirement that land allocation to the people must be completed by November 30. According to Mr. Lang Van Thiet, Chairman of Chau Hanh Commune People's Committee, the reason is that land management was previously lax, and some households illegally occupied the forest. When discovered, the local authorities made a record and sent it to the district for handling, but the handling was not thorough. Currently, the area of ​​encroachment is very large. In the villages of Hanh Tien, Ke Ninh, Khe Han, Thuan Lap, Pa Co, Ta Co, Dinh Tien, land allocation is facing many difficulties. The work of reviewing and making lists in villages has not been done well. For example, in Hanh Tien village, the Secretary, Village Chief, and Village Deputy each made a different list. Among them, there are families that are not eligible for land allocation this time. In addition, the capacity and qualifications of the members of the Steering Committee are not equal, and the officers in charge do not have a firm grasp of the process, so when people have questions, they do not explain them satisfactorily, so there is a high consensus, leading to slow progress.

During the land allocation process, some problems arose. For example, in the cluster of 4 villages: Ke Ninh, Pa Co, Ta Co, Dinh Tien, 53 families have reclaimed and restored more than 20 hectares near the stream to grow palm trees and meters for decades. After reviewing the land area, the government did not separate it to divide it among the people. Mr. Ha Van Ninh, Head of Pa Co village, said: "The village has about 10 households that have produced 10 hectares of land near the stream to grow palm trees and meters for decades. But now the commune is taking back the land to divide among households lacking land. The people in the village did not agree, so the village made a petition to the commune to separate this area. If the households receive forest land, they should return it so that they can keep the meters and palm land they have been using for a long time."

In response to the above incident, the People's Committee of Chau Hanh commune has temporarily suspended land allocation in the above 4 hamlets and held a dialogue meeting with the people. The plan proposed by the district and commune is that for families who are allocated land this time but have previously used land near the stream to grow palm trees, the land will not be allocated in a new location, but will be allocated land based on the current cultivation status. Families whose area exceeds the allocation limit will be divided and redistributed to other families. This plan has received the consent of the people and the commune is currently continuing to allocate land to the people.

Despite difficulties and obstacles, thanks to the strong leadership of the Party Committee and the government, the synchronous and strong participation of organizations and unions, the work of allocating forestry land has achieved high results and created consensus among the people. The People's Committee of Quy Chau district strives to complete the work of allocating land to the people before November 30. This is not only an important task of the district in 2014 but also the earnest wish of the people in the district. After allocating land in the field, the district will step up the construction of documents to issue Land Use Right Certificates so that people can feel secure in farming and production.

Article and photos:Pham Bang