Young forest planting season…

(Baonghean) - The tree planting festival is often considered the beginning of spring forest planting and this year, thanks to good propaganda and mobilization work, the 2014 Giap Ngo spring tree planting festival, agencies, sectors as well as people in the province exceeded the set plan. This result is an important basis for our province to be determined to plant 6,000 hectares of new forest in the 2014 spring crop.

Help people improve their economy

On the first day of the tree planting campaign, people in Tuong Duong excitedly went to the hills to plant trees and afforest. Mr. Lo Toan in Thach Duong village, Thach Giam commune said: Spring crops usually have favorable weather for afforestation, so my family registered to plant over 3,000 scattered trees including xoan and lat in Pu Lan forest (bordering Yen Na commune). Up to this point, over 100 trees have been planted, currently the whole family of 6 people is clearing the ground and digging holes to plant forests in time for the spring crop. According to Mr. Toan, we proactively spend money to plant forests in advance to keep up with the schedule, waiting for the State to invest and support the funding later. His family spent 3.6 million VND to plant over 3,000 scattered trees.

It is known that Thach Duong village has over 154 households registered to plant over 23,000 scattered trees, mainly xoan and lat. People strive to finish spring forest planting by the end of March 2014. In Khe Chi village, people are clearing the ground cover, preparing for forest planting. Mr. La Van Phuc said: This spring, my family registered to plant 1.2 hectares of forest in Na Pha. The terrain is difficult, but we have cleared the ground cover and dug holes for half of the area. We are currently waiting to get xoan lat seeds from Tuong Duong Forestry Company to plant. It is known that Khe Chi village registered to plant 76 hectares of concentrated forest (the largest area in the commune). Previously, people only knew how to dig holes to plant trees, paying little attention to investment and care, but now most people follow the instructions of technical staff, which is to dig holes and fertilize with decomposed manure and NPK fertilizer.

Mr. Lo Van Quyet - Chairman of the People's Committee of Thach Giam commune added: For a long time, the people of Thach Giam have clearly recognized the economic benefits of forests and considered it an indispensable profession in the development of rural agricultural economy. Therefore, most of the bare hills have been covered with green. In 2014, Thach Giam registered to plant nearly 100 hectares of concentrated forest (mainly newly exploited raw material forest area). Of which, the district did not assign scattered forests, but the people registered to plant over 70 hectares. Immediately after the launching ceremony of the tree planting festival, the commune planted over 600 scattered trees in Lau, Mac and Thach Duong villages. Commune officials are mobilizing people in the villages to mobilize forces to clear the ground cover and dig holes. Up to this point, over 40% of the area has been cleared of ground cover, and holes are dug as the ground cover is cleared. The good news is that after completing the digging of the holes, the district will integrate the project programs to support 5 million VND/ha of planted forest so that people will have the conditions to plant and take care of the forest, not leaving bare hills and mountains.

In addition to preparing for afforestation, Tuong Duong also does a good job of caring for and protecting planted forests. Walking along the communes of Tam Quang, Tam Thai, Xa Luong... we witnessed the vast green planted forests replacing the previous reed forests. Mr. Lo Thanh in Son Ha village is happily taking care of the xoan forest: After planting the forest, my family will take care of it such as weeding, hoeing, hilling and fertilizing to help the xoan grow well. At this rate, in about 5 years, 3 hectares of xoan will bring in a large income, reaching 45-50 m3/ha of xoan, selling for 2.5-3 million VND/m3, earning about 450 million VND.

Mr. Ho Viet Son - Chairman of Tam Quang Commune People's Committee shared: Agricultural land is scarce, while forest land is abundant, so the commune determines that forestry is the main economic sector, taking planting and developing forests to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty, and improve people's income. The commune has a Forest Development Board, whose task is to advise the Commune People's Committee to develop a plan for planting forests, caring for and protecting forests. Each village in Tam Quang has a forest protection team, mainly protecting buffaloes and cows that destroy forests and PCCCR. In 2014, the district assigned the commune to plant nearly 60 hectares of forest, and people are preparing to dig planting holes. Due to the good implementation of forest planting, the whole commune has now covered over 1,100 hectares of planted forests. In addition to preparing for forest planting, the commune directs people to actively take care of planted forests, the area of ​​2-3 year old forests that need care includes 350 hectares of xoan, 250 hectares of mem, and 150 hectares of acacia and lat. For the area of ​​​​meters, people both take care of weeding and pruning and harvesting. The commune has also directed the development of forestry economy associated with livestock farming. In the area, many households have combined the comprehensive farm economy of "forest planting - livestock farming" to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty from the forest, and even become rich.

Mr. Lo Kham Kha - Head of the Agriculture Department of Tuong Duong district added: In 2014, Tuong Duong planted 1,500 hectares of forest and over 200 hectares of scattered forest. Of which, there are 300 hectares of protection forest, 1,300 hectares of concentrated production forest. On the first day of the tree planting and forest planting ceremony, the whole district planted over 30,000 scattered trees. To ensure the completion of the production forest planting target by the end of 2013, the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district directed households to register the forest planting area. 80% of the area will be planted with mixed mahogany, lat, and met trees because these types of trees are easy to consume. For acacia planting, there are usually 1,600 trees/ha, while mahogany planting is denser, with a density of over 4,000 trees/ha (1.5m between trees, 1.5m between rows).

Tuong Duong also focuses on the quality of seedlings. Up to now, Tuong Duong Forestry Company Limited has prepared over 2 million seedlings including xoan, lat, meters and acacia, ensuring sufficient quality to supply the afforestation area in the area. Tuong Duong strives to plant over 60% of the area by the end of April 2013, the rest will be focused on autumn afforestation. Regarding the mechanism and policy, the district uses 30a capital to support 8 million VND/ha of protective forest and 5 million VND/ha for production forest. The total capital for afforestation is about 8 billion VND, divided into 2 phases. The first phase is disbursed after the afforestation has been accepted, the second phase is for care, clearing the ground, and digging holes. In parallel with the preparation for afforestation, the district directs people to take care of the xoan, lat, meters planted forests to increase income value.

Do Luong Forestry One Member Co., Ltd. promptly prepares tree seedlings for afforestation. Photo: HV

Con Cuong is also preparing for the forest planting season. Immediately after the tree planting ceremony, people in the district planted over 3,000 scattered trees, while people focused on clearing the ground cover to prepare for forest planting throughout the district. Mr. Lang Van Hai of Ke Sung village - Mau Duc commune said: Thanks to the high price of raw wood in 2013, people are better off, with an average price of 700,000 VND/m3. This year, his family plans to plant over 2 hectares, and with good care, they will harvest 80-100 million VND in about 5 years. It is known that Ke Sung village was assigned 15 hectares of forest, but people have registered over 25 hectares of acacia and linden forests. Many people have proactively invested capital in advance to plant forests in time for the season. This year, Mau Duc commune was assigned to plant over 200 hectares of production forest, and the design has now been completed. People are urgently clearing ground cover and digging holes to plant forests in time for the spring crop. Over 80% of the area is mainly planted with acacia, the rest is bodhi, while many places have no output, in Mau Duc acacia is still consumed well thanks to its high quality. The commune directs people to focus on taking care of the 2-3 year old hybrid acacia forest, mainly clearing grass, hoeing, and lining. The current difficulty is that the traffic for the raw material area has not been invested in, when harvesting it is very difficult, people have to carry the acacia "tang bo" to the main road.

Reduce pressure on capital resources

From the Tet tree planting movement this year, it can be seen that along with the participation of all levels, sectors, organizations, and unions, businesses and people have really participated very actively. This shows a positive change in people's awareness and actions about the role of tree planting, afforestation, and environmental protection. Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: "In recent years, the State's investment capital has tended to decrease, but the area of ​​newly planted forests is increasing. That change is due to businesses and people investing their own capital to plant forests". Therefore, in this year's spring crop, the plan to plant 6,000 hectares of new forests, in addition to through investment programs and projects of the State, international organizations, businesses and people have registered to plant up to 3,500 hectares (mainly production forests).

Thanh Thanh Dat Company plans to plant nearly 400 hectares of forest in 2014, and this spring crop has registered to plant more than 200 hectares of production forest. May Forestry Company (Nghia Dan) will plant about 1,000 hectares of forest this year and is currently preparing for forest planting. Or Kieu Phuong (Tan Ky), Le Duy Nguyen (Hoang Mai) ... are also actively preparing seedlings and fertilizers for forest planting. Because spring forest planting is actively invested and participated in by businesses and people, because in addition to the benefit of quickly developing the area of ​​bare land and hills, it also brings high economic efficiency. Therefore, businesses and people have really attached themselves to and boldly invested in forest planting and this is one of the important "areas" that help Nghe An reduce the "pressure" on investment capital and support from the State, but still create high efficiency in forest development.

For example, this year, Con Cuong planted over 1,000 hectares of raw material forests, of which 500 hectares of forests planted under Program 147 were supported with about 2 million VND/ha, the remaining 500 hectares were mainly planted by people and businesses themselves. The District 147 Project Management Board, in coordination with the forest development boards of each commune, conducted inspections of each area of ​​households registered to participate in forest planting this season. Along with that, implementing the field design work, the district's 2014 forest planting design area, up to now, the design unit has implemented over 60% of the plan. Con Cuong Forestry Company Limited ensures the supply of quality tree seedlings for the entire district.

Mr. Le Dai Thang - Deputy Head of the Planning and Technical Department of the Forestry Sub-Department said: "In 2014, the State budget will support the planting of 1,460 hectares, of which through the forest protection and development project for the period 2012 - 2020, there are 11 units planting 380 hectares, including the Management Boards of protective and special-use forests, Conservation Areas, Youth Volunteer Teams, 1TV LLCs and Project 147 - Support for production forest planting with 10 units planting 1,080 hectares. Along with that, there is ODA support capital to implement the Forestry Development Project (WB3) and the project to restore and sustainably manage protective forests (JICA II). Depending on each project and implementation area to implement the support for forest planting, but most of the capital is for investment in purchasing seeds, fertilizers...".

In order to successfully implement the 2014 spring forest planting, since the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and related levels and sectors have issued documents and decisions assigning capital and planting area targets, so that units can implement on schedule. Mr. Phan Hong Tien - Director of Do Luong Forestry One Member Co., Ltd. said: "From the support capital of the Forest Protection and Development Project for the period 2012 - 2020, the enterprise was assigned the target of planting 50 hectares of new forest, and has now well prepared the site to be ready for spring forest planting such as: finishing the ground cover, digging holes, fully preparing seedlings and fertilizers".

To proactively source capital and increase income, create jobs for workers, Do Luong Forestry One Member Co., Ltd. boldly invested in acacia nursery to serve the planting of raw material forests, providing seedlings for people in neighboring areas. Thanks to the 2.5-hectare nursery with synchronous investment in facilities, equipment, and machinery for production, along with a team of qualified technical staff, it has met the demand for tree seedlings in the area (producing about 1 million seedlings each year). In particular, the BV 10 and BV 16 acacia varieties incubated by the enterprise, during the planting process, if invested in care and exploited according to the correct process, the yield will reach 150 tons of acacia/ha and this acacia variety is being expanded in forest planting areas in Do Luong, Con Cuong, Yen Thanh, Dien Chau, etc.

At Yen Thanh Protective Forest Management Board, in this spring crop, through the support capital from the State budget, 100 hectares of protective forest and 100 hectares of production forest were newly planted from the Forestry Development Fund (WB3). To increase income and create jobs for workers, Yen Thanh Protective Forest Management Board has built a 1,500 m2 nursery garden, recently producing tens of thousands of Acacia seeds, Acacia cuttings, and Australian Acacia to serve people planting forests in the spring crop.

The deep and wide development of the Tet tree planting movement in the year of the Horse in the whole province has reached an impressive figure of 182,067 trees (the registered planting plan is only 23,064 trees). This spring crop, the whole province is expected to have a demand of 12 - 13 million seedlings and is currently basically met. Along with that, the source of fertilizer is also fully prepared thanks to production units supplying quantity with appropriate payment mechanisms... These are favorable conditions for good implementation of the 2014 spring forest planting.

Van Truong - Hoang Vinh