Billionaire from growing raw materials forests

(Baonghean) - In Bac Thanh commune - Yen Thanh, everyone admires Nguyen Trong Loc, who with his determination overcame many difficulties and challenges to become rich right in his hometown by planting forests, creating many jobs for workers with stable income.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Loc takes care of raw acacia forest.

Nguyen Trong Loc's farm is located in the Tro Do area, Bac Thanh commune (Yen Thanh), covered in a vast green color of over 20 hectares of hybrid acacia and eucalyptus trees that are ready for harvest. Born in 1972 in a large, poor family, from a young age, Loc had to work hard to help his parents earn a living and raise his younger siblings. In 1996, he got married, and the couple moved out with nothing, working on the fields all year round and doing all kinds of jobs, but poverty still surrounded them. After many sleepless nights trying to find a way out of poverty, Loc thought of the vast Tro Do forest area. His father had previously asked the commune to contract a farm but was unsuccessful, so it had been abandoned for a long time. With a bold thought, he could renovate it to plant forests, maybe he would change his life.

The Tro Do forest area is located at the end of Bac Thanh commune, bordering Trung Thanh and Dong Thanh communes, which are remote and have a total area of ​​up to 75 hectares. Due to the large area, his father could only reclaim about 5 hectares, the remaining 70 hectares only had bushes and dense reeds, which were home to wild boars and snakes. Seeing him start the "project" of renovating this poor and remote land, his parents could not help but worry. Unable to persuade him, they had to come back and advise him that if he wanted to plant forest here, he should only do it on a small area because where would he get the capital to reclaim the land, and how many other things were involved such as forest protection, roads for raw materials, and whether anyone would dare to come up to transport acacia.

However, in 1998, he decided to pack up and go to Tro Do to build a hut to conquer the wild forest. At first, with only hoes, shovels, knives, and machetes, he and his wife worked hard to reclaim the land. After more than a year, they pushed back the dark jungle, creating a "clean" area of ​​over 10 hectares. In that initial area, he planted acacia and eucalyptus mixed with corn and cassava to earn short-term income and support long-term. However, the joy had not yet begun to grow, the prolonged drought, while there was no irrigation water, caused dozens of hectares of acacia trees and other crops to burn to death. "To grow forests effectively, there must be water to irrigate the crops." With that thought, Mr. Loc waded through the forest to find a water source in Hung Ngo stream, painstakingly blocked the stream to store water, and continued to borrow capital to plant forests.

Heaven does not disappoint people, in 2003, after many difficulties and hardships, for the first time, Mr. Loc and his wife reaped the first results from 10 hectares of acacia and eucalyptus. The money he earned was poured back into the forest, continuing to reclaim Tro Do. Gradually, by 2010, Mr. Nguyen Trong Loc had renovated and greened 75 hectares of forest, including forest land in high mountains and rugged terrain - something that many people initially discouraged him from doing, because they thought he could not do. Mr. Loc shared: My secret is that if I want to grow raw materials effectively, I must follow the correct technical process, buy quality seedlings and especially dare to invest in fertilizer, from 10 to 12 million VND per hectare of planted forest. Besides, despite the high mountain terrain, using a pump to "push" water up to irrigate the acacia in the early stages will help the acacia grow well.

To solve the output of raw materials, in 2011, Mr. Loc boldly invested over 200 million VND to open a road to transport raw materials with a length of over 1 km to help trucks reach the place to purchase. Besides, he also boldly replaced eucalyptus trees and domestic acacia trees with imported acacia trees (Australian acacia) taken from Yen Thanh Protective Forest Management Board to plant on an area of ​​over 30 hectares. Up to now, some areas have yielded a yield of 35 - 40 m3/ha, with the current selling price of 3 million VND/m3 of wood, the income per hectare of forest is from 100 - 120 million VND, after deducting costs, the profit is from 70 - 80 million VND/ha. The acacia area is large, planted in alternating seasons, so he has a harvest all year round, each year the revenue from the forest is 1-1.2 billion VND. Not only does Loc's farm enrich his family, it also creates stable jobs for 6 workers and over 30 seasonal workers (mainly when harvesting acacia). In particular, he also supports and shares his experience in forest planting with many people in Bac Thanh commune to escape poverty, and even many households to become rich.

“I will continue to invest in opening more raw material routes, and at the same time replace 100% of the area of ​​imported Australian acacia. Because imported acacia not only produces large wood, high productivity but also is easy to consume, while domestic acacia is currently experiencing output congestion.” The forest planting billionaire sincerely shared this when talking about his upcoming plans.

Phu Huong