Binh Lieu: Stabilizing forestry production after storm Yagi

To help forest growers recover production and stabilize their livelihoods after Typhoon Yagi, Binh Lieu district is urgently reviewing the damage, helping people access the Government's support policies, and proactively taking measures to prevent and combat forest fires during the dry season. The district strives to be ready and ensure all conditions for forest growers to start a new production cycle right from the next spring crop.

A forest area was destroyed by storm Yagi in Khe Lanh village, Vo Ngai commune, Binh Lieu district.

Vo Ngai Commune has the most damaged forest area in Binh Lieu District. Mr. Sai Van Cau's family (Khe Lanh Hamlet, Vo Ngai Commune) has more than 1 hectare of 4-year-old acacia. Normally, his family only needs to take care of it for 2 more years and he can harvest and sell it for 1.1 to 1.2 million VND/ton of acacia wood. However, super typhoon Yagi, which hit Quang Ninh on September 7, caused serious damage to Mr. Cau's family as well as hundreds of other forest planting households in Binh Lieu.

Mr. Sai Van Cau shared: “70% of my family’s acacia plantation was destroyed by the storm. After the storm, I had to hire more workers to quickly harvest acacia to sell to wood chip processing facilities. We have to sell quickly to avoid further price drops. If the acacia bark cannot be peeled, the price will drop even more.”

Compared to the price of 1.2 million in previous seasons, young acacia trees that had to be harvested early due to the storm were only sold for about 900,000 VND/ton. Many acacia forests at first glance seemed to have suffered only minor damage, but upon careful counting, the number of fallen trees was up to 70%, even 80%. The damage to households growing production forests in Binh Lieu ranged from tens to hundreds of millions of VND. The more forests a household planted, the greater the damage.

Acacia loggers suffered damage after the storm.

Mr. Tran Trung Kien, Chairman of Vo Ngai Commune People's Committee, shared: "It is estimated that Vo Ngai Commune has over 1,700 hectares of production forest damaged by the storm. To support people to quickly restore production after the storm, the commune has sent officials to count the damaged forest area, clear roads with fallen trees to ensure smooth traffic, creating conditions for people to harvest and transport acacia more conveniently. At this time, we must take advantage of the time and harvest quickly to minimize losses for people."

According to statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Lieu district, it is estimated that the whole district has 3,674 hectares of forestry trees affected by the storm. Based on tree species: acacia, eucalyptus and pine suffered the most damage with over 3,200 hectares, followed by the area of replacement forests of lat and lim with 172.3 hectares; the area of star anise and cinnamon trees damaged was 146 hectares and 155 hectares respectively. In addition to households, the affected subjects also included forestry companies.

For example, in the case of Binh Lieu Forestry One Member Co., Ltd., the unit's report stated that the area of partially damaged forest (less than 30%) was 818.37 hectares, the area of completely damaged forest (over 70%) was 51.33 hectares. Currently, the Company is organizing 3 working groups, conducting field verification, reporting to the province and the central government for consideration to carry out forest liquidation procedures. Mr. Hoang Van Trinh, Chairman and General Director of Binh Lieu Forestry Company, said: "As a unit with the capacity to produce seedlings, in addition to overcoming the damage, we also have to consider the story of preparing the source of seedlings for the next crop. We are proposing to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Ninh and the People's Committee of Binh Lieu district to allow the expansion of the nursery area in the short term, to ensure the supply of seedlings of sufficient quality and quantity for forest growers in the area".

Vo Ngai forest products processing facility operates at full capacity to purchase glue to process wood chips.

Accompanying and supporting people to restore forestry production after the storm, along with conducting damage inventory, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Lieu district has collected necessary documents, created a set of procedural records, and sent them to communes to help people access and receive support from the Government in Decree 02/2017/ND-CP dated January 9, 2017 on mechanisms and policies to support agricultural production to restore production in areas damaged by natural disasters and epidemics.

Ms. Le Thi Thu Huong, Head of the Department of Agriculture of Binh Lieu District, said: “Along with guiding and supporting people to carry out procedures to receive support from the Government, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Lieu District is closely coordinating with communes to strengthen propaganda and guide people to effectively clean up the ground cover and prevent forest fires during the dry season. Measures to change the crop season and convert the crop structure are also being considered, such as intercropping short-term crops such as galangal or cardamom under the low forest canopy (acacia about 2 years old) so that forest growers can have more income while waiting for the acacia forest to be harvested. Regarding this content, we are waiting and will implement it as soon as there is guidance from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development”.

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