Spring afforestation efforts

(Baonghean) - Taking advantage of the favorable weather, localities in the province are actively planting spring forests and scattered trees. Up to this point, the whole province has planted about 3,200 hectares of forest, and it is expected that spring forest planting will be completed by the end of March 2015.

Realizing that afforestation is an effective direction in economic development, every year the Party Committee, government and people of Bai Son (Do Luong) actively respond to the afforestation plan.

Mr. Thai Dinh Loi - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: "This year, the commune planted over 100 hectares of concentrated raw material forest, and 25 hectares of project 147 forest. Immediately after being assigned the plan, we issued documents instructing hamlets to organize households to register for forest planting and scattered tree planting. At the same time, we guided people to plant technical forests, urged them to clear the ground cover, dig holes, and conduct preliminary acceptance of the forest planting site before Tet. Up to this point, the whole commune has planted over 20 hectares of forest, striving to plant over 70 hectares of spring forest this year."

Hybrid acacia nursery of Do Luong Forestry One Member Co., Ltd.

We went to Huong Son hamlet (Bai Son commune), where the spring forest planting movement is quite bustling, Mr. Nguyen Huu Long - who is actively spreading acacia seeds into the holes with his family said: “My family registered to plant 1.5 hectares of hybrid acacia cuttings. The hardest work is still digging holes to plant trees, some forest planting seasons are behind schedule because they cannot dig holes in time. This year, my family hired an excavator to dig holes, the digging time by machine only takes 1 day, while previously, 3 workers had to dig for more than 10 days to finish. Digging holes by machine has the advantage of reducing labor, and is more in line with technical processes. Up to this point, we have planted 0.8 hectares, in about 7 days we will plant the entire area in the direction of intensive farming, increasing productivity. Previously, we planted trees without fertilizing, now following the instructions of officials at all levels, we apply 0.2 kg of biofertilizer/tree…”.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Hung's family in Bai Son commune also put the machine into production, so the work of preparing the forest planting site was completed early. He hired 5 workers to plant 1.8 hectares of forest in the past 4 days, and is expected to finish planting 2.5 hectares of hybrid acacia in the next 4 days. To facilitate the forest planting work, right from the beginning of the season, the hamlets mobilized human resources, maintained and repaired the raw material roads, creating favorable conditions for transporting fertilizers and seedlings to the site.

Mr. Phan Hong Tien - Director of Do Luong Forestry One Member Co., Ltd. said: According to the province's target, in 2015, the Company was assigned to plant over 600 hectares of forest, including 300 hectares of project forest 147 and 40 hectares of protective forest, the remaining forest was planted by the Company with its own capital.

For the 147 project forest area spread across the communes of Thuong Son, Lam Son, Hong Son, Bai Son, Dong Son... people have planted nearly 200 hectares. Previously, there was often a shortage of seedlings, but now thanks to the renovation and upgrading of the nursery, this year the Company has produced over 1.5 million seedlings of all kinds (mainly cuttings and imported acacia), ensuring the supply of forest planting for the entire Do Luong district and neighboring districts.

Replant new trees

Meanwhile, Song Hieu Agriculture and Forestry Company Limited (Quy Hop) is actively implementing forest planting throughout Quy Hop, Quy Chau, Que Phong districts... Particularly in sub-area 249 of Nghia Mai commune managed by Nghia Dan Forestry Farm, workers of the Forestry Farm are taking advantage of favorable weather to plant forests. According to the target, the unit will plant 200 hectares of forest, of which 100 hectares will be planted in the spring crop.

Mr. Ho Dinh The - Director of Song Hieu Agriculture and Forestry Company Limited said: "In 2015, the Company planted over 650 hectares of forest, of which project 147 is 100 hectares, the Company invested in planting the remaining 450 hectares. To facilitate the forest planting work, from the beginning of the year, the Company mobilized 16 excavators and bulldozers, and repaired hundreds of kilometers of raw material roads to facilitate the transportation of forest planting materials. Up to this point, 100% of the area has finished digging holes, and over 40 hectares of acacia have been planted.

Unlike other localities that usually focus on planting forests in the spring and autumn seasons, the Company focuses on planting forests in the spring and summer seasons, starting after the Lunar New Year and ending in August 2015. To plant intensive forests, the unit invests 15 million VND/ha, including seeds, fertilizers and care. In 2015, the Company built a model of planting Australian hybrid acacia on over 200 hectares. Economically, planting Australian hybrid acacia after about 10 years of planting will yield a harvest of 180 - 250 m3 of wood/ha, 2-3 times higher than the current planted forests.

In 2015, according to the plan, the whole province planted over 7,500 hectares of forest under Project 147, JICA project... At the same time, people and businesses invested their own capital to plant over 7,500 hectares, increasing the total area of ​​raw material forest to over 15,000 hectares. In the spring crop alone, 4,200 hectares of forest were planted, the rest were planted in the autumn crop. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development directed the forestry units to supply over 20 million seedlings of all kinds for people to plant forests. The Department established a team to strengthen the inspection and supervision of seed production and trading activities at nurseries to improve seed quality. Strictly handle violations in the field of forestry seeds, in order to improve the production and supply of good seeds for forest growers.

Up to this point, the whole province has planted about 3,200 hectares of forest, and it is estimated that by the end of March 2015, the spring forest planting will be completed. This year, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has directed the planting of about 30% of the area of ​​imported acacia (Australian acacia) to limit acacia chips and increase large wood acacia to increase economic value per unit area. However, planting large timber forests still faces many difficulties such as: long planting time, large investment capital, limited planting and care techniques for large timber trees, so it has not attracted many households to participate in forest planting. Not to mention, people are currently facing difficulties in capital so they have not invested much, some localities still have the situation of "dry" planting, without fertilizing, so the efficiency is not high.

Vuong Tran