Enhancing the economic value of planted forests

(Baonghean) - A vast forest area of ​​more than 20 thousand hectares in 28 communes in the west of the district is Yen Thanh's great potential in economic development and preserving a green, clean and beautiful environment.

From 1987 to 1988, Mr. Phan Trong Tho's family received 120 hectares of Dong Phu forest in Dong Thanh commune, of which only about 20 hectares were streams and roads. With a small area of ​​chestnut trees, his family both protected and planted more. Chestnut trees are easy to grow, and they produce seeds after 7 years. Now his family has nearly 50 hectares of chestnuts, harvesting hundreds of tons of fruit each year. Mr. Phan Trong Luong (Mr. Tho's son) said: "In addition to chestnuts, my father and I clear trees and prepare land to plant acacia. Currently, in the forest area that the family has received, there are dozens of hectares of chestnuts that are nearly 30 years old. We are currently applying for a license to exploit them for wood and sell them to wood and charcoal production facilities for export to plant new forests. Over 50 hectares of acacia have already yielded a harvest, and the second crop has been planted for 2-3 years." On this hilly forest area, taking advantage of the beautiful landscape of Ve Vung dam, in 2013 Mr. Luong invested nearly 3 billion VND, clearing land, building a restaurant, a volleyball court, buying duck boats, with the "ambition" to turn this place into an eco-tourism area.

Seedling nursery at Thien Son orange farm (Dong Thanh).

As for the lowland commune of Dong Thanh, it has the advantage of forest gardens and hill gardens. Mr. Thai Van Thanh, Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, said: There are many types of forests in the area, but the most effective is still developing acacia and eucalyptus trees. The movement of planting raw materials has existed since before 1990, but has developed most strongly since 2000. Although there are no processing factories in the district, people are still very excited about the way to get rich from raw materials forests.

People also have a significant source of income from livestock and intercropping. “When acacia and eucalyptus trees do not have a canopy, people intercrop cassava and beans of all kinds underneath, combining with livestock to increase income. Attached to the forest economy is the hill garden economy on the moderately sloping hillsides below the forest. Currently, we are focusing on the project of developing citrus trees such as lemon, orange, grapefruit, which are trees that are both highly effective and suitable for the soil. Especially orange trees, which have been grown in Dong Thanh for a long time but have only had strong investment and development in recent years…”, Mr. Thanh added.

In recent years, forestry has become a spearhead in economic development in Thinh Thanh. The total area of ​​forestry land covered by the commune is 1,820 hectares, of which the area of ​​raw cajuput trees is 1,500 hectares, and 80 hectares are protected. Mr. Hoang Van Minh, Secretary of the Commune Party Committee, said: In addition to protecting and preventing forest fires every year, the locality has implemented many measures to exploit the economic potential of the forest hills, planting raw materials and fruit trees with high economic value. Currently, Thinh Thanh has 70 hectares of sugarcane and 100 hectares of cassava. To improve the economic efficiency of the hill gardens, the commune has mobilized people to focus on converting mixed gardens and part of the low hill land area to grow high-value fruit trees such as grapefruit, apples, oranges... up to now, the area has reached nearly 100 hectares.

In the development orientation for the coming years, the commune has determined to make efforts to attract projects to support afforestation, planning the area of ​​​​protected regeneration to production forests. Mr. Minh shared: "We will strengthen the management of exploitation with new planting, reforestation after harvest, encourage the development of forestry farms, associated with livestock, strive to build 5 to 7 effective business models. At the same time, do a good job of forest fire prevention and control, promote scattered tree planting on traffic routes and agencies, offices, strive to reach over 50% forest cover by 2020".

Yen Thanh district has nearly 22 thousand hectares of hilly and forest land in 28/39 communes and towns, accounting for nearly 50% of the district's natural land area. Currently, the area has been basically covered with green trees. In recent years, the district has always identified developing the hilly and forest economy as one of the key tasks to make a breakthrough in improving the income and living standards of people in mountainous communes, both creating jobs for people and protecting natural resources, contributing to maintaining dams, storing water, preventing erosion and landslides, ensuring ecological environment and reducing environmental pollution. Many forest areas have reached the harvest season, reaching 100 - 200 million VND/cycle/ha. In addition, in recent years, the district has also focused on developing highly effective citrus trees such as oranges in Minh Thanh, Dong Thanh, apples in Minh Thanh, lychees in Tien Thanh...

Developing the forest economy in Yen Thanh has many advantages. The consumption is quite stable, the district is planning to call for investment to build a product processing factory in Dong Thanh commune. Products from the forest such as livestock, poultry, and fruit trees are also quite easy to consume and are favored by the market. From the advantage of large land, localities take advantage of and develop poultry and livestock, large livestock such as buffalo, cows, pigs, and chickens, bringing high economic efficiency.

Developing livestock farming in the hilly and forested areas also solves the problem of moving livestock farming out of residential areas, reducing environmental pollution. However, there are still many difficulties. The traffic system and product transportation still have many shortcomings. Some main raw material routes are degraded and some roads have not been upgraded, making travel very difficult. In addition, the irrigation system for dry crops as well as serving livestock development in highland communes is almost non-existent.

Mr. Nguyen Van Duong, Head of the District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: The district will continue to review specific planning in each region to arrange suitable crops. Convert some areas of depleted natural forests with low economic efficiency, mainly concentrated along Khua road in Tay Thanh, Dong Thanh, Thinh Thanh, Nam Thanh, Quang Thanh communes... to economic forest plantation combined with livestock and fruit tree planting, invest in rebuilding the traffic network, upgrading dams, supporting people to dig wells to supply water for production and livestock. In particular, there are solutions to increase initial capital investment support for people because forest planting and livestock development both require large initial capital.

Article and photos:Phu Huong