Nghe An needs to build forestry roads soon to increase the value of planted forests.

Afforestation is costly due to lack of transportation routes.

Visiting Quy Chau district in June, I saw people in many communes exploiting acacia wood. Because many places do not have forestry roads, the process of exploiting and transporting raw acacia is more costly.

Mr. Vi Van Thuan in Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district said: In the past few years, the price of raw acacia has been quite stable. 1 hectare of production forest after 5-6 years can yield about 100 million VND, but we have to deduct about 30 million VND for exploitation and transportation costs, so there is no profit.

Specifically, my family has over 10 hectares of acacia trees more than 3 km from the main road, so we have to hire workers to load the acacia trees onto small trucks, then transfer them to the main road before loading them onto trucks for sale. Due to the difficulty in transportation, most forest growers are easily forced to lower prices by buyers.

Mr. Le Van Toan - Chairman of Chau Binh Commune People's Committee said: Chau Binh Commune has over 3,200 hectares of raw acacia, most of the acacia forest area is in remote areas, without forestry roads. For example, in Thung Khang village, people have to transport wood from the acacia exploitation area to the main road over 12 km, the transportation cost is high, calculating that acacia planting is not profitable.

During the acacia harvesting season, people all work together to temporarily open small forestry roads right on the acacia plots, enough for small vehicles of 2-3 tons to enter. The acacia area of ​​the entire Chau Binh commune is contiguous, the whole commune needs about 30 km of forestry roads. People hope that the State will invest in the forestry road system, helping people in production, trucks can go to the foot of the hill, then the wood will be sold well.

Mr. Luong Tri Dung - Head of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quy Chau district added: Quy Chau district has over 20,000 hectares of raw acacia, harvesting over 4,000 hectares of acacia annually. The district does not have forestry roads to transport acacia, mainly because people themselves open temporary roads for small cars to transport acacia, after harvesting they hire leveling machines to plant acacia, therefore, the annual cost of building temporary roads to transport acacia is very expensive.

Through research, the district is lacking small forestry roads connecting the commune center roads, with a total length of over 250 km. People in Quy Chau district hope that the State will pay attention and support to build the above roads to develop raw acacia in a sustainable way.

Similarly, Tan Ky district is also facing many difficulties in forestry roads. Present at the forest of Nghia Dung commune, Tan Ky district, we saw people having to use their strength to manually carry acacia onto trucks, which was very difficult. Mr. Tran Van Minh in Nghia Dung commune said: His family has 3 hectares of acacia, every acacia season, they have to build temporary roads, hire machines, and workers, which costs over 40 million VND, which means that there are some acacia seasons when they suffer losses.

According to the report of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tan Ky district, the whole district has a large area of ​​raw acacia with over 29,000 hectares, but most communes do not have forestry roads. This makes it difficult to plant and care for forests in terms of transporting seedlings and fertilizers. Many areas of forests that are at the age of exploitation are difficult to sell, and the selling price is also much lower than areas with convenient traffic routes.

At this time, only Song Hieu Agriculture and Forestry Company, which manages forestry units in Nghia Dan, Quy Chau, Quy Hop, and Que Phong districts, has built over 100 km of graded forestry roads. Every year, this unit spends over 200 million VND on maintenance and repair after the storm season.

Thanks to the forestry road, the above forestry units grow acacia effectively, from care, protection to transportation; the economic value of acacia trees is quite high, with an average revenue of 220-250 million VND/ha/acacia growing cycle of 8-10 years.

Forest roads help increase the value of planted forests

According to the report of the Forest Protection Department, up to this point, the whole Nghe An province has only over 220 km of forestry roads, the routes are mainly existing trails, roads made by forestry units, a few are graded, during the rainy season, they are often eroded and damaged.

Nghe An is planning a forestry development plan integrated into the provincial planning, including the planning of opening key forestry routes of over 450 km to meet development needs. The standard road width is 4.5-5 meters, with gravel on sections serving people's lives. The "fishbone" routes connecting the exploited forest to the main road can mobilize social investment. Currently, some districts have proactively integrated capital sources to build acacia raw material roads.

For example, the route connecting Lang Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district to Tan Son commune, Quynh Luu district is over 10 km long, and is the “lifeline” for transporting raw glue. Over the years, this route has seriously degraded.

To facilitate people to develop acacia raw material areas, since the beginning of 2024, Yen Thanh district has invested in upgrading this road, with a total value of over 100 billion VND. According to the plan, this road will be put into use at the end of 2025, developing acacia raw material areas of over 10,000 hectares for communes of Yen Thanh and Quynh Luu districts.

Mr. Nguyen Danh Hung - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: Recently, on May 24, the Government issued Decree No. 58/2024/ND-CP on a number of investment policies in forestry.

Accordingly, Article 17 on support and construction of forestry roads, the subjects and conditions for support are production forest planting areas with a concentrated scale of 500 hectares or more. The maximum support level for investment in construction of forestry roads is 450 million VND/km.

This is a policy to support the development of production forests. Nghe An needs to soon have solutions to implement planning and invest in developing the forestry transport network system. Expanding the forestry road network is very important, it will create a breakthrough for the development of the forest economy, reduce investment costs in production and exploitation, contributing to increasing the economic value of planted forests for the people.