Reclaiming forests managed by organizations to distribute to 3,000 households lacking production land

(Baonghean.vn) - Reviewing and reclaiming forest areas managed by organizations and dividing them among more than 3,000 households lacking production land was the opinion of Ms. Cao Thi Xuan at a working session in Que Phong.

From 2011 to 2016, Que Phong district organized land and forest allocation to 8 communities in two communes of Hanh Dich and Dong Van with a total area of ​​920.93 hectares, including natural forest land (789.93 hectares); planted forest (24.36 hectares) and bare land (107.19 hectares).

Up to now, the district has assigned and granted land use right certificates to 3,760 households with an area of ​​20,462.96 hectares. Forest management and protection work has been well implemented, raising people's awareness. People have proactively planted forests on vacant land or participated in forestation projects.

Working session scene. Photo: Cong Kien

Thanks to that, the area of ​​planted forests and forest cover increased. In 2006, the area of ​​planted forests was 3,502.8 hectares, the forest cover reached 73.08%. By 2016, the area of ​​planted forests increased to 5,764.9 hectares, the forest cover also increased to 75.6%. The community and households receiving forests enjoy many benefits such as participating in projects, receiving money and rice support according to Resolution 30a...

For Tien Phong commune, before 2005, there were 9 hamlet and village communities allocated land and forests with a total area of ​​1,014.7 hectares. Implementing Decree 163 of the Government, the commune had 458 households allocated land and granted land use right certificates with an area of ​​2,196 hectares.

People of Hanh Dich commune (Que Phong) take care of the cinnamon forest. Photo: Cong Kien

In 2017, 281 more households in 4 Hua Na hydropower resettlement villages were assigned a total of 962 hectares of forestry land. At the same time, the Commune People's Committee coordinated with the Pu Hoat Nature Reserve Management Board to assign and protect protective forests and special-use forests with an area of ​​2,972 hectares to 152 households in 4 villages: Na Sanh; Huoi Muong, Na Cang and Na Chang.

The policy of allocating land and forests to communities and households in Que Phong has shown its correctness and early effectiveness, creating conditions for people to develop the economy, increase income and improve their lives, and protect and develop forest areas.

Mr. Vi Van Quoc - Secretary of Huoi Muong village, Tien Phong commune (Que Phong) proposed that due to lack of land for production, authorities at all levels should create conditions for people to resettle back to the shore of Hua Na hydroelectric reservoir for production. Photo: Cong Kien

However, there are still shortcomings and weaknesses such as slow implementation, large areas of unallocated forest but no policy mechanism to allocate to the people. The illegal transfer of forest and forestry land areas, conversion of land use purposes and disputes and overlaps between households and organizations allocated land such as Thanh Thanh Dat Company Limited still occur.

On that basis, the district proposed to consider increasing the level of support for forest care, management and protection, in addition to providing vocational training, job introduction, and increasing livelihood sources for people to stabilize their lives. At the same time, support resources for localities in implementing the policy of land and forest allocation.

Mr. Lu Dinh Thi - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of Que Phong District Party Committee reported to the Supervisory Delegation that he will propose to review and reclaim land from agricultural and forestry farms to allocate to poor households. Photo: Cong Kien

Members of the monitoring delegation questioned and discussed with local leaders a number of issues regarding the establishment of the Steering Committee for land and forest allocation; the timing of granting land use right certificates, the allocation of natural forests, the number of forest owners, the issue of forest allocation to foreign organizations, forestry land management, the situation of illegal forest land transfer, people's rights, income structure, necessary mechanisms for people to live with the forest and orientation for forest economic development...

Discussing the above issues, leaders and departments of Que Phong district and Tien Phong commune further explained the current situation and solutions related to land and forest allocation. That is to continue implementing payments for forest environmental services, find effective solutions to overcome the situation of illegal transfers, and if necessary, recover and hand over to households that really need it.

Ms. Cao Thi Xuan - Vice President of the Ethnic Council concluded the meeting. Photo: Cong Kien

The implementation is slow due to the replacement of documents that creates overlaps, along with limited funding, making it difficult to grant land use rights. The district will propose to review and reclaim land from agricultural and forestry farms to allocate to poor households. Regarding the forest land area that foreign organizations are managing, the district will propose to the Provincial People's Committee to terminate its operations, because most of this area is currently unproductive.

On behalf of the monitoring delegation, Ms. Cao Thi Xuan noted that the locality needs to orientate in planning and developing forest capital, especially output for forest products. The forest area managed by organizations is still large, it needs to be reviewed, researched and recovered to be distributed to farmers, especially poor households, of which more than 3 thousand households are lacking production land. Strengthen propaganda work, raise people's awareness about forest protection, limit disputes over forest land area, affecting security and order./.

Cong Kien