Control of slash and burn agriculture

(Baonghean) - The dry season is also the season when ethnic people in remote districts clear vegetation and burn fields for farming. Therefore, the risk of forest fires is very high. In this situation, mountainous districts are taking proactive measures to prevent and fight forest fires.

Mr. Luong Van Xuyen - Head of Canh Trap village (Tam Thai commune, Tuong Duong district) said: Canh Trap village has 220 households, working on over 70 hectares of rotational fields. Up to now, the village has cleared and burned over 40 hectares. During the burning process, the village management board and the commune's agricultural staff directly guided the people on the burning process. Specifically, before burning the fields, a firebreak was built in advance to prevent the fire from spreading into the forest. When burning, the forest fire must be watched and extinguished promptly if a fire occurs.

Chairman of Tam Thai Commune People's Committee, Mr. Lo Vinh Tinh added: Before 2000, the whole Tam Thai commune had over 700 hectares of fields, now the commune only has over 220 hectares of fields. Right from the beginning of the hot season, the commune and local forest rangers organized training for villagers on the process of burning fields. They instructed people on fire prevention measures when a situation of burning fields caused a forest fire. Thanks to that, there has been no forest fire here for a long time. Besides, the reason why Tam Thai commune has reduced the area of ​​fields is because in the past years, the commune has focused on reclaiming rice fields, increasing the total area of ​​​​rice to nearly 100 hectares. The commune also encouraged people to develop economic models such as planting forests, planting meters, especially raising 17 fish cages on Lam River...

We went to Cua Rao II village, Xa Luong commune - Tuong Duong, in the planned area for farming and saw that people had basically finished clearing the firebreak. Ms. Dau Thi Lien, Secretary of Cua Rao II village, said: The village has 130 households but only has 30 hectares of farming land, divided among 40 households. To strictly prohibit slash-and-burn farming from encroaching on natural forests, the village management board and commune officials directly inspect the clearing of vegetation. If households are found to be illegally encroaching, they will promptly remind them to handle the situation. If they deliberately violate the law, they will report to higher authorities for handling. Mr. Vi Tinh in Cua Rao II village, who has 0.8 hectares of farming land, said: Before burning the fields, in addition to reporting to the local authorities, families mobilized human resources to help each other burn the fields so that when an incident occurs, there will be a force available to handle it promptly.

Tuong Duong district has 174,618 hectares of forest, currently only 2,000 hectares of fields remain. In addition to rotating fields according to the plan, due to the difficult life of ethnic minorities and lack of rice fields, a part of the people still illegally burn fields. Mr. Vo Sy Lam, Head of Tuong Duong District Forest Protection Department, said: Faced with the above situation, Tuong Duong has implemented solutions to minimize the risk of forest fires caused by burning fields. Specifically, identifying key areas of swidden production that are prone to causing forest fires, including communes such as Mai Son, Huu Khuong, Tam Thai, Thach Giam, Xa Luong, Luong Minh, Tam Hop, Luu Kien, Yen Hoa, Yen Tinh, Xieng My, Nga My... The Department organized a signing of a commitment with people to burn fields only in planned areas and in accordance with technical procedures. Before burning, it is necessary to report to local authorities for instructions.

Right from the beginning of the hot season, the Forest Protection Department has coordinated with communes to organize training and guide people on the process of slash-and-burn farming. In particular, the functional departments at district and commune levels have zoned off slash-and-burn production areas, developed and implemented slash-and-burn production plans, established a Steering Committee for slash-and-burn production, and assigned members of the Steering Committee to be in charge of villages to direct and guide people in implementation.

In Que Phong, to reduce the risk of forest fires caused by slash-and-burn farming, the People's Committee of Que Phong district issued Decision No. 33/QD/UB dated January 29, 2015 "On the establishment of the Steering Committee for allocating fields in Que Phong district" headed by the Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee. The Steering Committee is responsible for advising the Chairman of the District People's Committee to resolve issues related to the work of allocating fields. Based on the actual situation in the communes, organize the allocation of fields to villages lacking rice fields, meeting the food production needs of the people. Direct the commune authorities to establish a Steering Committee for allocating fields at the commune level, instructing people to do farming in accordance with regulations. After reviewing the demand for land use for swidden farming, the district has allocated 330 hectares of fields to the communes of Thong Thu, Dong Van, Cam Muon, Quang Phong... To ensure the area for swidden farming for the people, avoiding illegal deforestation. The Commune People's Committee's steering committee for allocating fields will base on the assigned targets of the commune (according to the announcement of the District People's Committee), and base on the actual conditions of each village such as: the rice area of ​​each village, see which village lacks food, then develop a plan for allocating fields.

Mr. Tran Duc Loi, Deputy Head of Que Phong Forest Protection Department, said: The Department has directed local Forest Protection Department to organize the zoning of fields for the right subjects and locations according to the planning. Issue instructions and documents related to the zoning of fields, and work with local authorities to direct people to zoning and produce fields according to regulations. Forest protection forces regularly inspect, closely monitor and guide people to clear and burn fields according to the correct techniques. Control people entering the forest, prevent acts of taking advantage of burning fields to affect forest resources and illegally clear and burn forests.

Recently, the Forest Protection Department discovered a household in Dong Van commune illegally clearing nearly 800 hectares of land, and the Forest Protection Department imposed an administrative fine of 2.6 million VND. The difficulty is that Dong Van currently has 6 resettlement villages for Hua Na Hydropower Plant, while the rice field area is only 50 hectares. The swidden land was assigned over 65 hectares, due to the lack of production land in recent years, many people often violated the illegal clearing of land outside the planning area. After being assigned the land, the Commune Forestry Department coordinated with local forest rangers to regularly inspect and monitor to promptly detect and handle...

Van Truong