Granting planting area codes: Making exported forest products transparent

Forest information transparency

The Vietnam Forestry Science Institute (VAFS) has just coordinated with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to grant a certificate of forest material growing area code to Yen Son Forestry Company Limited.

The code granted covers an area of ​​1ha, planted with pure hybrid acacia from 2022, in the raw material forest planting area of ​​Team 821, Dao Vien commune (Yen Son). Information on the planting area coordinates is accurately determined by the iTwood System and certified by the Provincial Forest Protection Department. This is the first forest planting area code granted to forest owners in Vietnam, within the framework of the program piloted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 5 provinces of Bac Giang, Lang Son, Phu Tho, Tuyen Quang and Yen Bai. Forest plots will be granted a QR code to help forest owners facilitate management work and organizations and individuals in need can easily trace the origin of the forest in the fastest and clearest way.

Since the forest planting area code was issued to the forest area of ​​Team 821, Mr. Tran Manh Huan, Head of Technical Department, Yen Son Forestry Company, no longer has to work too hard to check the forest status of Team 821 but can still manage and monitor closely. Mr. Huan, excitedly said: With a smartphone, he can scan the QR code that has been issued, all information, images, and forest status are fully updated on the device, making it very easy to manage and direct production.

According to Mr. Huan, with the software, the scanning code is not only convenient for forest management, helping to make the production process transparent within the unit, but also very convenient for domestic and foreign partners who need to trace the origin of the product. Mr. Huan affirmed: After the forest lot of Team 821, Yen Son Forestry Company continues to provide information and at the same time promote the request for the Forest Protection Department to issue planting area codes for 1,366 hectares of planted forests in 2024 and will issue all 1,800 hectares of forests of the entire company in 2025.

Comrade Ly Xuan Binh, Head of the Forestry Sub-Department - Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: The foundation for granting forest planting area codes is the iTwood System, a tool to support real-time management of the wood supply chain. Each stage in the profile creation process will be given a QR code, ensuring a continuous flow of information on the legality of raw wood from the planting - exploitation - trade stages. By using the cloud computing model, iTwood supports users to trace the origin of wood quickly and effectively, thereby making information on the origin of products most transparent.

Vision for the future

According to Professor, Dr. Vo Dai Hai, Director of VAFS, the growing area code is an identification code for a growing area to monitor and control the production situation; control product quality; trace the origin of crop products. The granting of growing area codes for agricultural production has been implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Thanks to this legal corridor, many agricultural products, especially fruits, have increased in export in recent years. For forestry trees, the issue of tracing the origin of wood has also been raised very early. Accordingly, enterprises producing wood and using raw wood for processing must build and develop a legal wood supply chain that does not cause deforestation. This is a mandatory requirement for exporting goods to markets in Europe, the US, Japan, etc.

Professor Vo Dai Hai said that, with a province with a production forest area of ​​about 190 thousand hectares, ranking in the TOP of the country and being the province with the largest timber output in the Northern Midlands and Mountains region of about 1 million m3/year, accounting for over 23% of the total exploitation output of the region, contributing the majority of raw materials for export of the Vietnamese wood industry, the granting of a planting area code for the production forest area of ​​Tuyen Quang is urgent, helping Tuyen Quang's planted forest wood products affirm their name and competitive advantage. Because currently, all products, not only in the fields of agriculture and forestry, with transparent information and traceable origin will bring trust and be the number 1 choice of consumers.

In the digital age, the digital economy, agriculture, especially regionally digitized forest products will be an important step forward, not only meeting international requirements but also focusing on building long-term management tools such as digital identification for all forest plots, including full information on: Forest owners, land use rights, geographic coordinates and current status of forest plantation areas...

Comrade Mai Thi Hoan, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: Crops such as oranges, grapefruits, tea, and production forests of the province are assigned area codes. This has many meanings, making management easier, businesses accessing legal raw material areas more easily, creating a stable link between businesses and forest owners, contributing to achieving many goals such as digital transformation in forestry, promoting cooperative economy.

In particular, the planting area code will be an important input for granting sustainable forest management certificates. With the benefits brought, the Department continues to direct the Forest Protection Department to widely deploy the digitalization of the process of granting codes for forest planting areas, moving towards building a database to manage the entire forest area of ​​the province to achieve the goal of building Tuyen Quang into a major wood processing and export center of the country.

Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/cap-ma-so-vung-trong-minh-bach-hoa-lam-san-xuat-khau-201850.html