Many places in Nghe An lack acacia seeds for spring forest planting.

Farmers worry about lack of seed glue

Present in Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district at this time, in some forests where acacia has just been harvested, people have started to process the ground cover, dig holes to plant forests but still do not have acacia seedlings to plant.

Mr. Vi Van Nam - a local resident shared: "In recent years, acacia prices have been good, people have harvested a lot, leading to a situation where acacia nurseries do not have enough to supply. My family has harvested over 2 hectares of acacia, and has finished digging holes, but for more than 2 weeks, we have not been able to buy acacia seedlings to plant."

Not only Mr. Nam’s family, but many other households in Quy Chau district are also facing the same situation. The lack of acacia seedlings makes them passive in farming, affecting the forest planting cycle as well as long-term economic efficiency.

A representative of Chau Binh Commune People's Committee said: "Chau Binh Commune has over 4,000 hectares of raw acacia. This spring crop alone, the whole commune has only planted 220/300 hectares. Currently, there are 80 hectares without acacia seeds to plant, waiting to buy from some seed production facilities in the area. The reason is that many households are harvesting acacia at the same time, leading to a situation where seed production facilities do not have enough supply."

At Dai Lam Forest Investment and Development Cooperative in Chau Binh Commune - a unit specializing in producing acacia seedlings, the nursery has sold out all the acacia seedlings, and workers are actively taking care of the next batch of acacia seedlings to sell them on time. A representative of the cooperative shared: "Since after Tet until now, we have sold over 2 million seedlings to people, but it is still not enough to meet the demand. In particular, the price of acacia seedlings has increased from 1,000 VND to 1,500 VND/tree due to limited supply."

According to the report of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Quy Chau district, the whole district currently has an area of ​​raw acacia of up to more than 24,000 hectares, each year exploiting and planting over 4,600 hectares. Up to now, Quy Chau district has planted 1,000/2,000 hectares of forest in the spring crop. Because the spring crop is the main crop, the demand for planting is high, so there is a local shortage of seeds. The district currently has 3 units producing tree seeds including: Co Ba Forestry Farm, Quy Chau Forestry Farm and Dai Lam Forest Investment and Development Cooperative. However, the total amount of seeds of these units only meets about 30-35% of the forest planting area, the rest is mainly purchased by people from other provinces, so it is difficult to control the quality of seeds.

Not only in Quy Chau district, the shortage of acacia seeds is also happening in many other districts. Ms. Vi Thi Tinh - a resident of Chau Khe commune, Con Cuong district, said: "My family has harvested over 1.5 hectares of acacia but for more than 3 weeks now there is still no acacia seeds to plant. Currently, I am temporarily planting corn to preserve the land, waiting for acacia seeds to continue planting. The delay in planting acacia due to lack of seeds also affects the acacia planting cycle, while the current weather is very favorable".

Mr. Luong Thanh Hai - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Con Cuong district said: Con Cuong district has over 20,000 hectares of raw acacia forest, each year new planting of over 2,000 hectares, this year's Spring crop alone, the district has planted over 300/600 hectares, 300 hectares are waiting for acacia seedlings. The difficulty is that Con Cuong district does not have a seed production facility, most people buy seeds from other places to plant, so there is often a local shortage of seeds. Regarding the long-term solution, Con Cuong district needs to attract businesses to invest in producing high-quality acacia seedlings to meet the needs of the people, avoiding the local shortage of seeds.

Long-term problem of acacia seed production

According to the report of Nghe An Forest Protection Department, up to now, the whole province has planted 4,091 ha out of the planned 20,000 ha. However, many localities are facing a shortage of acacia seedlings because local nurseries cannot supply them in time. One of the main reasons is the cold weather at the beginning of the spring season, making it difficult to grow seedlings.

The province currently has over 20 licensed forestry seed production and trading units, supplying about 30 million seedlings each year. However, there are still many limitations, in the area there are still many facilities and households producing forestry seed on a small scale that have not registered seed production activities with the State management agency, leading to difficulties in quality control. Seed sources have not been properly invested, there are not many facilities producing high-quality acacia seedlings. People still depend on imported seeds from the northern and southern provinces, leading to difficulties in quality control.

In order to ensure the quality of seedlings, Nghe An Forest Protection Department recommends that localities need to strengthen management of production and trading of plant varieties, strictly control production stages according to the value chain. In addition, local authorities need to step up propaganda so that people use good varieties with clear origins, and avoid buying poor quality floating varieties.

To effectively grow forests in the long term, the forestry sector needs to invest more in large-scale seed production facilities, applying advanced technology to improve the quality and quantity of acacia seedlings. Developing sustainable seed production models will help stabilize supply, reduce dependence on external seed sources, and at the same time, improve economic efficiency for forest growers.

Solving the problem of lack of acacia seedlings not only helps ensure the afforestation plan of Nghe An province but also contributes to environmental protection and sustainable economic development for local people.