Struggling to increase the value of hybrid glue

(Baonghean)-Most of the forestry land in mountainous districts is used to grow acacia for processing wood chips for export. However, the economic efficiency that acacia trees have brought to people in recent years is now declining. The problem of improving the efficiency of using forestry land with other crops of higher economic value has not yet found a solution.

People of Chau Thai commune (Quy Hop) receive acacia seedlings for planting.

As a province with potential for forestry land, Nghe An has identified forest economic development as an important direction to improve people's lives and change the face of mountainous districts. Currently, the whole province has over 600,000 hectares of production forest land, of which nearly 120,000 hectares are planted with acacia trees by people. On average, the area of ​​acacia trees increases by 10,000 hectares each year in the whole province. In mountainous districts, almost all families with forest land plant acacia trees. Small households have a few thousand square meters, large households have up to 10 hectares. Acacia trees are easy to grow, low cost and have a short exploitation time, so they are suitable for people's production conditions. However, in recent years, the economic value of acacia trees is no longer as great as before. The reason is that the purchase price has been "downhill" like a car, causing people's lives to be in trouble.

In any locality, asking about the economic efficiency of acacia trees also receives a shake of the head in dismay. Currently, the whole district of Quy Chau has more than 13,000 acacia trees, mainly concentrated in Chau Hanh and Chau Hoi communes. Considered a local tree to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, the area of ​​acacia trees in the whole district is increasing day by day. However, sadly, the economic efficiency has not increased. In the past, each hectare of acacia brought an income of 50-60 million VND/ha, but now it is only 20-30 million VND/ha. Mr. Vi Van Chan's family, Chau Phong commune, Quy Chau district has 2 hectares of acacia. After 6 years of care, he earned 42 million VND. Mr. Chan explained: Traders often buy acacia trees in patches, in forest patches. They decide the price, we cannot take the initiative, so we are often forced to lower the price. Not only are the prices forced down, traders also collect more than 10 million VND/truck for exploitation and transportation costs. Adding the cost of seeds and fertilizers, the initial investment is about 7 million VND/ha, for each hectare, people only earn about 15 million VND. Calculating in a year, acacia trees bring people no more than 2.5 million VND.

Due to difficult economic conditions, most people in mountainous districts often sell young acacia trees when they are only 3-5 years old. Harvesting them early results in low productivity of only 40-50 tons/ha. Thus, the economic efficiency of each hectare of acacia has decreased significantly. In addition, the roads serving the exploitation and transportation of raw materials in many localities are still difficult. In many places, acacia trucks cannot reach the forest, so they have to increase the number of trips. Taking advantage of this, traders try to force down the price of acacia trees, causing the price of acacia trees to drop. People have no other choice but to swallow the bitterness and sell them to traders at a cheap price. "Therefore, calculating the value of each hectare of acacia trees that are 6 years old, traders only buy them for 25-30 million VND. After deducting the investment costs of planting, caring for, and protecting them, farmers do not earn much after all these years. It is said that acacia growers work but have no food to eat," Mr. Chan added.

In Quy Hop district, the total area of ​​acacia in the district is 11,000 hectares, of which the area of ​​acacia owned by the people accounts for more than 9,300 hectares. It is considered a key crop for people in the district to escape poverty, but what is happening makes the government worried. On average, each year, the district exploits about 1,500 - 2,000 hectares of acacia. If the acacia tree grows enough for its cycle, people can harvest about 70 tons per hectare, with the price of acacia being 1.2 million VND/ton, people earn more than 80 million VND/ha. But that is in theory. Because most people in the district sell young acacia when it is only 4-5 years old. Because the acacia has not grown enough for its cycle, the exploitation yield is poor, only about 40-45 tons/ha. Mr. Hoang Van Thai - Head of the District Agriculture Department said: Although acacia is still considered a crop that plays a major role in people's lives, it must be affirmed that its role is decreasing day by day. The reason is that transportation is still difficult, so people are forced to pay lower prices. In these areas, it is not possible to find a replacement crop because planting eucalyptus is not suitable.

Another reason why acacia prices have not reached a high value is because currently, acacia is mainly used for wood chip exports. This is still the only outlet for acacia trees in our province. One ton of wood chips on the market costs 500,000 VND, while one ton of sawn timber costs 4 times more. However, due to lack of capital, people have to exploit trees early, chop them up to get wood chips for export instead of growing them for a few more years to get sawn timber which has a much higher value. Meanwhile, for the paper industry, wood chips are a form of raw material, with a much lower value if choosing to export paper and pulp materials. The massive export of wood chips not only affects the total demand for wood materials in the future but also affects the wood processing and paper production industries.

Improving the efficiency of forestry land in mountainous districts is a difficult problem for both authorities and people. In recent years, the province has had many mechanisms and policies to help people in these districts convert to suitable crops. Many crops have been introduced to replace acacia trees such as cinnamon, so trees, and three-flower plum trees... but all have failed. Ms. Lang Thi Hong, Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee, said: Quy Chau is a locality with a large area of ​​forestry land, over 72,000 hectares, of which 23,000 hectares are production forests. To improve the efficiency of forestry land use, the district has introduced some new crops such as cinnamon and so trees, but they have not been effective. In the immediate future, the district is focusing on propagating to people and units to restore native trees such as lim, lat, tram, and vang tam in the fringe areas around the acacia area.

The reason is that the soil conditions, climate, and farming practices of the people have not been carefully assessed, so when introduced, these crops do not grow well. In particular, the output of the products is always a concern for the people and local authorities when the refrain of good harvest - low price keeps coming back without notice. For rubber trees, this is a direction that is still causing many concerns. In fact, the investment cost for rubber planting is many times higher than that of acacia planting. The care techniques are complicated, the harvest time is over 6 years, plus the demanding requirements for soil quality, weather, and the price of rubber latex is also low, so people are still hesitant. As for cassava, due to unstable output, the province does not encourage expansion. Some acacia planting areas are mainly hilly, poor soil, difficult traffic... so finding another crop more suitable than acacia is still very difficult.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture, said: In fact, acacia trees themselves have quite high economic value and can help improve people's lives a lot. However, the economic efficiency that acacia trees bring to people in recent years has been declining. The main reason is that factories buy acacia at low prices, and there is no investment in forestry road infrastructure, so when people exploit acacia from the forest to cars, they lose all their capital, and the responsibility for investing in building forestry roads to serve the transportation of raw materials belongs to the State. To improve the efficiency of forestry land use in mountainous districts with suitable, high-value crops, the Department is conducting research and evaluation to advise the province. In the districts, people are planting lim, tram and some other native trees under the canopy of acacia forests. However, due to higher costs and longer time, it is only suitable for households with conditions and is difficult to plant on a large scale. Like bamboo and rattan, but the cultivation technique is more complicated.

In the long term, acacia trees can be replaced, but only in some areas because acacia is still a raw material for processing factories. To improve the efficiency of acacia trees, it is necessary to invest in upgrading transportation to transport raw materials when harvesting, reducing costs. State agencies must conduct research to improve the quality of varieties to have good varieties. Speed ​​up the planning of processing to increase the purchase price of raw materials for people. These are the three main solutions to improve the economic efficiency of raw acacia trees. To limit the situation of people selling young acacia, first of all, jobs must be created for people. When people have a stable income, the situation of lack of money and exploiting acacia for sale will be reduced. There must be sanctions assigned to the Forest Protection Department and local authorities to advise people not to cut young acacia trees because of low efficiency, build a model of planting acacia forests for wood instead of planting acacia forests for chips...

Article and photos:Pham Bang