People are supported with acacia seeds and fertilizers for reforestation

(Baonghean) - In recent times, our province has attracted many hydropower, transportation, irrigation, and public works projects, so it has reclaimed a lot of forest area to serve the projects. To compensate for that forest area, our province has implemented a replacement forestation project.

After decades of working in the forestry sector in the remote district of Tuong Duong, right after retiring to his hometown in Hamlet 2, Hoa Son Commune (Do Luong), Mr. Thai Dinh Hanh continued to receive 1.7 hectares of forest land near his house to plant acacia trees from the replacement forestation project. With the desire to get rich from the forest, since January 2015, his family has invested in forestation through tree varieties and fertilizers supported by the project implemented by Do Luong Forestry Company Limited. The family invested 23 million VND to treat the ground cover, dig 3,750 holes to plant acacia trees, buy an additional 1.2 tons of NPK fertilizer... to serve the forestation.

With proper investment and good care, over 1.7 hectares of acacia trees have grown well after more than 10 months, now nearly 2m high and have become one of the models of the replacement forestation project in Hoa Son. Along with that, many households in Hoa Son commune (Do Luong) have actively completed the forestation project with an area of ​​over 12 hectares and most of the acacia trees have grown well due to proper investment.

People of Hoa Son commune (Do Luong) carry out a project to plant replacement forests.

The 2015 replacement forest planting project was implemented in many localities, of which Yen Thanh was one of the districts that implemented it very effectively. Mr. Phan Van Sy, Head of the Yen Thanh Protective Forest Management Board, said: “Currently, the board is assigned to manage 7,811 hectares of forest in Yen Thanh and in 2015, implementing the replacement forest planting project, the Protective Forest Management Board deployed 2 types of planted forests, which are raw material forests and protective forests. The support policies for people to plant forests were implemented by the Management Board in accordance with regulations, publicly and promptly, creating trust for people, thanks to which the progress of forest planting was carried out quickly”. Benefiting from this project, Yen Thanh people were supported with acacia seedlings, fertilizers and techniques to plant 100 hectares of raw material forests. Many households in 8 communes in the district were instructed on acacia planting techniques by technical staff of the Forest Protection Management Board from early August 2015 and completed planting 100 hectares of forest in September 2015.

Providing acacia seeds for forest growers. Photo: HV

Mr. Dang Xuan Minh, Head of the Forestry Sub-Department, said: “The total area of ​​forest converted for other purposes that must be reforested in our province has so far reached more than 3,586 hectares, of which 100% of the forest area converted to hydropower for reforestation has been completed (more than 2,113 hectares); 100% of the area converted to public works (nearly 575 hectares) and hundreds of hectares of forest converted to other purposes. In the process of implementing the reforestation project, there are still some difficulties and problems, such as low funding, forest owners and people facing difficulties when implementing the reforestation project. The collection of reforestation fees (mostly for non-hydropower purposes) converted before 2012 at some units, projects and enterprises is still slow and difficult to resolve.

Along with investing in the replacement forestation project, through the capital of the Forest Protection and Development Fund, Nghe An continues to support localities, forest owners, and people to protect and preserve nearly 200,000 hectares of forest in the hydropower basin. Typical examples of this work are Ky Son (protecting and preserving nearly 60,000 hectares of forest), Tuong Duong (over 60,000 hectares), and Que Phong (40,000 hectares).

Hoang Vinh