Acacia prices increase, Nghe An farmers cut down and sell young acacia trees

Clip Van Truong

Farmers in Nghia Long commune, Nghia Dan district harvest young acacia trees. Photo taken on March 5. Photo: Van Truong

Present at the acacia forest in Nghia Long commune, Nghia Dan district, I saw farmers busily exploiting hybrid acacia, some peeling the bark, others carrying the acacia onto their trucks. Observing, I saw that most of the people were exploiting young acacia, some trees were only as big as an arm.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan in Nghia Long commune, Nghia Dan said: Although he knows that exploiting young acacia trees less than 3 years old will have low productivity, but now the price of acacia has increased sharply from 1 million VND to 1.2 million VND/ton, because he needs money, his family still has to cut it down and sell it.

Workers cutting glue in Nghia Dan district. Photo: Van Truong

According to some forest owners in Nghia Dan district, the exploitation of acacia trees under the right age has caused many losses. These include reduced productivity of planted forests, low quality of wood, and low actual profits, with only 45-50 million VND/ha after deducting costs.

Mr. Lam Van Thang - Head of the Department of Agriculture of Nghia Dan district said: Nghia Dan district currently has over 10,000 hectares of raw material forests, of which over 2,000 hectares are exploited annually. For a long time, many households planting production forests have a "quick fix" mentality, harvesting young acacia 3-4 years old mainly to sell for wood chip production, with low economic value.

Transporting glue in Nghia Long commune, Nghia Dan. Photo: Van Truong

The reason for exploiting young acacia is that forest growers lack capital to invest in production and need to cover their living expenses. For a long time, the district has not had any enterprises to consume acacia wood products, so when the price of acacia increases, people take advantage of the opportunity to exploit it.

Nghia Dan district is stepping up propaganda and explanation work to help people understand the losses when selling young acacia. However, the district is in dire need of businesses to sign contracts and long-term product consumption so that forest growers can feel secure in producing and exploiting in accordance with the cycle to increase economic value.

At the same time, mobilize people to plant acacia trees interspersed with large timber forests to both increase economic value and contribute to the development of forestry in an effective and sustainable direction.

Young acacia is only as big as an arm. Photo: Van Truong

In Quy Hop district, there are many households exploiting acacia trees on schedule, so the productivity is quite high. A forest owner in Dong Hop commune said: His family is currently exploiting more than 3 hectares of acacia trees over 5 years old, with the current high price, the revenue is 120 million VND/ha, after deducting expenses, the profit is 80-90 million VND/ha.

Through research, it is known that many factories and acacia wood processing facilities in Nghe An and neighboring provinces have signed orders, which has pushed up acacia prices in recent times.

Wood products of Song Hieu agricultural and forestry processing enterprise are exported to the US after Tet. Photo: Van Truong

Mr. Ho Duc Dan - Director of Song Hieu Agricultural and Forestry Processing Enterprise shared: After Tet, we have found new orders, mainly exporting laminated wood and wood blanks to the US and domestic markets. Prices have increased again, from 8.5 million VND/ ^m3 of laminated wood before, now it has increased to 9.9 million VND/ ^m3 . Thanks to finding an outlet, the unit has created jobs for over 90 workers with stable salaries.

In Nghia Dan district, Thai Hoa town, some peeled wood processing facilities that previously had a lot of inventory have now been able to sell their products. The owner of a forest product processing facility in Quang Tien ward, Thai Hoa town said: Before Tet, the price of cheap peeled wood was only 2 million VND/ ^m3 and no one bought it, but now it has increased to 2.5 million VND/ ^m3 .

Peeled wood products at a forest product processing facility in Thai Hoa town have received orders after Tet. Photo: Van Truong

Nghe An currently has nearly 170,000 hectares of raw acacia forests, exploiting over 50,000 hectares annually. Many acacia wood processing factories in Nghe An have now signed orders in Japan, the US and the domestic market, pushing up acacia prices. Contributing to promoting the movement of planting production forests to improve farmers' income.

However, in order for production forests to develop sustainably, according to experts, Nghe An needs to have a mechanism to encourage companies and corporations to participate in investing in supporting forest owners and people in planting raw material forests, and consuming products to create a stable, quality source of raw materials to avoid the situation where people sell young acacia trees, affecting the province's forest planting goals.

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