Yen Thanh: Developing a sustainable forest business model

(Baonghean.vn) - As a semi-mountainous district, Yen Thanh has 21,993.87 hectares of forestry land. Implementing the policy on socio-economic development of hilly areas, the district has built a sustainable forest business model with high economic value, to help people develop crops that bring high efficiency on hilly land, with a combined agroforestry model, intercropping long-term and short-term crops with the aim of sustainably using short-term to support long-term, at the same time, introducing some new crops for trial planting to then widely replicate.

Mr. Dang Ngoc Thu - Deputy Head of the District Agricultural Extension Station, said: In the beginning, the implementation of the model encountered many difficulties because the new crops had a long exploitation cycle, many households participating in the model were not confident in the implementation process because they did not know the actual effectiveness. In that situation, the Station conducted a survey in the entire district and selected 6 households in hamlets 7 and 8 (Bac Thanh) to implement the model.

Preparing acacia seedlings for forest planting

Initially, 15 hectares of hilly land were selected to plant bamboo shoots, Mexican lat, Aquilaria crassna, and hybrid acacia, as well as rattan, vetiver, and elephant grass. Local people also raised bees for honey. Training for households was conducted regularly to help them grasp the technical process of planting and caring for the trees.

Mr. Thu said: Through the monitoring process, we found that the plants are suitable for natural conditions. Acacia hybrid cuttings grow and develop quickly, have a short exploitation cycle, and are free of pests and diseases. For Mexican teak trees, they grow very quickly in the early stages, although they are damaged by stem borers and broken tops, but they are also suitable for the Yen Thanh ecological zone. In particular, honey bee colonies have a high colony multiplication coefficient, from 10 colonies in the first year, they multiply to 8 colonies, with high honey exploitation, each colony gives 8 - 9 kg of honey/year, the value of a colony brings in an income of 1 - 1.2 million VND/year.

According to the assessment, the model has helped people change their habit of planting trees without investment, with high density, so the plants grow slowly. People know how to apply new scientific and technological advances, introduce new crops to local cultivation, solve employment problems, and increase income. In particular, the sustainable forest business model with high economic value has created a reasonable agroforestry system combining different types of crops, a sustainable forestry ecosystem, limiting soil erosion, improving poor soil after planting eucalyptus, and increasing soil fertility. This is considered a new and effective direction in developing the garden economy in Yen Thanh.

Phu Huong