Half a century after liberation, Hai Lang district is gradually affirming its position as a sustainable forestry economic zone with a strategy to develop large timber forests and forests with FSC certification. Not only opening up a new direction for the people, this model also contributes to environmental protection, adapting to climate change and creating a foundation for a green - rich - sustainable Hai Lang in the next stage.
From the first planted forests...
Following the introduction of the Chairman of Hai Chanh Commune People's Committee, Bui Van Sinh, we visited the house of Cap Quoc Ha, the first person who dared to "dare" to receive more than 200 hectares of bare land and hills to plant forests more than 30 years ago. With his tireless efforts, he is now known as the "king of the forest" in the West Hai Lang area. While driving me on the winding red dirt road through the lush green hills, Ha pensively told me about his fate in the forest. His father, Cap Dinh Hoi (1924 - 2009), was originally from Hai Xuan Commune, Hai Lang District. He participated in the resistance war and was captured and imprisoned by the enemy in Phu Quoc. After peace, Hoi decided to stay in Phu Quoc to make a living. Ha was born and raised there. When life on Phu Quoc Island gradually stabilized, every year Hoi returned to his hometown, looking for military posts and old battlefields in Hai Lang District to find the remains of his comrades. Ha was always with him on those trips.
Green from the forests in Hai Lang district - Photo: LA
In 1992, during a trip to find the remains of comrades in Khe Buom Bac, Hai Chanh commune, he saw that there were many abandoned hills and mountains here. Realizing the potential of this wasteland, Mr. Hoi decided to bring his whole family back to his hometown and ask for land to reclaim and plant forests to both develop the economy and facilitate the search for the remains of his comrades. “In the past, there were no roads here, the land was full of rocks and stones, and was barren. The only crops grown were eucalyptus, which had low productivity, poor quality, and unstable output. Therefore, although the State encouraged it, almost no one dared to accept land to plant forests. So when I presented my idea, the People's Committee of Hai Lang district decided to immediately grant my father and I more than 200 hectares to plant forests,” Mr. Ha recalled.
According to Mr. Ha, the decision of his father and son at that time was considered by many to be risky. Because no one had ever seen anyone throw money into empty land or bare hills. The roads were difficult, so the transportation of seedlings and fertilizers was mainly done by carrying them on their backs. Many days when it rained heavily, the water in the stream rose and he could not return, so he had to sleep in the middle of the forest.
Along with that, the barren land, hot weather, cold rain affect the growth of crops... In particular, many times while digging holes to plant trees, he also dug up bombs left over from the war, luckily they did not explode.
To reduce costs, he not only reclaimed each piece of land to plant forests, but also learned techniques and bought seeds to grow trees to be proactive in the supply of seedlings. Planting and exploiting in a rolling manner, with a cycle of 5-7 years, by 1998 he had nearly 200 hectares of planted forest. Currently, he exploits about 20-30 hectares of forest each year, bringing in a revenue of about 2 billion VND.
“For me, the journey to get rich from the forest is not only a career, but also a dream and a responsibility to my homeland,” said Mr. Ha.
Chairman of Hai Chanh Commune People's Committee Bui Van Sinh affirmed that Mr. Ha's efforts have strongly inspired local people. From his successful forest planting areas, local people have gradually changed their awareness, actively exploiting the potential of forest land for economic development.
Up to now, the whole commune has had hundreds of households participating in forest planting with an area of over 2,600 hectares. Hai Chanh is also one of the localities with the largest forest planting area in Hai Lang district. Thanks to forest planting, people's lives have been increasingly improved, many households have escaped poverty, becoming rich households from forest planting. "Mr. Ha has not only enriched himself but also contributed to changing the face of the local rural economy," Mr. Sinh emphasized.
...To FSC forests
Starting to participate in planting large timber forests with Sustainable Forest Management Certificate (FSC) since 2013, up to now, more than 170 hectares of acacia forests of Phu Hung Cooperative, Hai Phu commune have been planted according to FSC-certified large timber forest standards. Mr. Nguyen The, Director of Phu Hung Cooperative, said that in the past, due to lack of care, most of the cooperative's forest area had low economic value, each hectare only brought in a few million VND in income.
Faced with that difficulty, he and the members of the cooperative researched and decided to switch to growing FSC large timber forests. According to Mr. The, the FSC forest certificate was developed by the International Forestry Council with a set of 10 principles and 56 criteria.
To obtain FSC certification, manufacturers of forest-based products must provide and demonstrate detailed records and documents on: product origin; implemented programs, plans for forest exploitation and reforestation; programs that ensure social, environmental and indigenous benefits. FSC certification is valid for 5 years and is accepted globally for its prestige and authenticity.
Mr. Cap Quoc Ha next to his forest in Hai Chanh commune, Hai Lang district - Photo: LA
Initially, the cooperative established a forest certification group with 8 participating households with an area of 87 hectares. In the first harvest, this group of households harvested more than 800 tons of wood with a selling price about 1.2 million VND/ton higher than the market price. On that basis, taking full advantage of local advantages in afforestation, the cooperative expanded the FSC forest area to 178 hectares.
At the same time, cooperate with enterprises such as Scansia Pacific Company, Thu Hang Wood Company... to have stable output, high selling price of wood higher than the market from 10% - 20%. Thereby, creating more jobs and stable income for cooperative members. "In addition to the cooperative's forest area, realizing the effectiveness of this type of forest, 6 local forest planting households with an area of 130 hectares have also participated in the cooperative's FSC large timber planting model", Mr. The added.
According to Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hai Lang district, Dao Van Tram, in order to improve the economic efficiency of planted forests, create large concentrated wood material areas, FSC certified forests to supply factories, production facilities, wood processing and exporting industries, increase income for people; at the same time, complete the goals and targets of large timber planted forests, FSC certified forests according to the Resolution of the 16th District Party Congress, term 2020 - 2025, the District People's Committee has issued a plan to develop large timber planted forests, FSC certified forests for the period 2023 - 2025, with a vision to 2030.
Specifically, according to the plan, by 2025 the whole district strives to have over 1,000 hectares of large timber plantations, FSC-certified plantations and over 2,000 hectares by 2030. Maintain the stability of the existing large timber plantations and FSC-certified forests. Plan and demarcate large timber plantations and FSC-certified forests. Bring the average productivity of large timber plantations using fast-growing trees to over 25 m3/ha/year.
Mr. Tram said that in order to realize the above goal, in the past time, Hai Lang district has actively coordinated with organizations and enterprises such as Corenarm Consulting Center, Quang Tri Paper Materials Company Limited to organize seminars and training courses to introduce FSC certified forest planting in hilly communes such as Hai Chanh, Hai Son, Hai Lam, Hai Phu, Hai Truong... and more than 445 households have registered to participate with an area of nearly 4,500 hectares. On that basis, Quang Tri Paper Materials Company Limited has supported all costs of FSC certification and annual certificate maintenance costs, and committed to purchasing FSC certified wood at prices equal to or higher than the market price at the time of exploitation.
According to Mr. Tram, up to this point, more than 3,200 hectares of forest area as committed have been granted FSC certification for the first time, bringing the total FSC forest area in the district to nearly 3,600 hectares, far exceeding the set target. "Planting forests according to FSC standards not only brings high economic efficiency but also brings environmental benefits such as high coverage, limiting damage when there are storms," Mr. Tram affirmed.
Building the future
Hai Lang has a forest area of over 20,600 hectares, reaching a forest coverage rate of 42.09%. Of which, production forests are over 15,300 hectares, protective forests are about 5,280 hectares, mainly concentrated in hilly communes including: Hai Phu, Hai Thuong, Hai Lam, Hai Truong, Hai Son, Hai Chanh and Dien Sanh town. Vice Chairman of Hai Lang District People's Committee Duong Viet Hai said that, identifying the strengths of natural conditions, land, labor resources and markets, in recent years, the leadership, direction and investment in infrastructure serving forestry have always been of great concern to Hai Lang district. Many policies have been supported for the people, thereby bringing the production forest planting movement to develop widely, initially creating jobs on the spot for thousands of rural workers, contributing to increasing income and improving the lives of people working in the forest industry.
In particular, the chain of FSC certified plantation wood consumption has been initially established with businesses with an added value of 12% - 15% compared to non-certified wood. Some businesses have been proactive in production, processing and joint ventures, linking with businesses inside and outside the province in product consumption.
However, Mr. Hai also admitted that, apart from some large timber forests and FSC-certified forests, the remaining areas are mainly small timber forests. The reason is that although they bring higher economic value than small timber forests, forest owners are still hesitant to plant large timber forests for a long time, with high risks such as forest fires and storms causing damage. The lives of some households planting forests are still difficult, so they have to exploit them early to make ends meet.
The purchase of small FSC-certified timber forests by enterprises for processing and manufacturing export products is still limited. On the other hand, people grow small timber forests but do not pay attention to developing FSC-certified forests. There have not been many linkage chains from planting, harvesting, processing and trading sustainable forest products.
In addition, forest protection and forest fire prevention and fighting are still limited because forestry infrastructure, equipment, tools and means for forest protection have not been invested adequately to meet actual requirements; forestry roads, transport roads, fire barriers and staging areas have not been invested properly; many motor vehicle routes to access some forest areas are very difficult.
According to Mr. Hai, the development orientation of the district's planted forests is towards intensive farming, long-term forest business to produce large timber to provide raw materials for the export wood processing industry, creating added value for planted wood products. In the coming time, along with promoting propaganda work, Hai Lang district will continue to expand and develop production linkage models with the goal of closely linking production with the market; especially production linkage models in the form of joint ventures and associations, gradually forming concentrated plantation wood raw material production areas with large scale and area to create favorable conditions for infrastructure investment, processing, sustainable forest management, assessment and granting of FSC forest certification. Encourage markets inside and outside the district, promote products, develop cooperatives producing household wooden furniture, handicrafts and participate in production linkage chains with processing facilities.
Mobilize and connect resources, integrate programs, projects, and plans to improve the effectiveness of forest development and FSC-certified wood material areas. Introduce new varieties with high productivity, good wood quality, and resistance to and adaptation to adverse weather conditions for forest planting. Promote the transfer of technical advances in intensive large-scale timber cultivation to forest owners.
At the same time, there is a policy to support tissue-cultured hybrid acacia seedlings and fertilizer materials to develop high-quality planted forest wood material areas towards FSC certification. Thereby, developing the forestry industry commensurate with its potential, contributing to the successful implementation of the district's socio-economic development goals; at the same time, realizing the Resolution of the District Party Congress for the 2020-2025 term.
“Currently, in addition to Quang Tri Paper Raw Materials Company Limited, in the district, Hai Lang Green Energy Joint Stock Company is also conducting surveys and building raw material areas to proceed with granting FSC forest certification to forest planting households,” Mr. Hai added.
From the first forests growing on the barren hills, Hai Lang has grown into a sustainable forestry economic zone, where each forest not only provides a livelihood for the people but is also a symbol of strong change.
Now, with a sustainable development strategy, the close connection between the government, businesses and forest growers has not only brought high economic value but also a solid “green shield”, helping to minimize the impact of climate change, protect the environment and preserve the prosperity for future generations. From the green of today’s forests, a prosperous and sustainable future of Hai Lang is gradually emerging - where people and nature together create a livable countryside.
Le An
Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/kien-tao-tuong-lai-tu-nhung-canh-rung-191890.htm
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