Bao Thang is a mountainous border district of Lao Cai province with 20 ethnic groups living together. Thanks to the support from the Government's programs and the policy of planting trees with high economic value, the flexible application of land and forest allocation policies has created a driving force for socio-economic development. Thanks to that, from a difficult district, the lives of ethnic minorities in Bao Thang district have been improved economically, contributing to environmental protection.
Developing the hill forest economy is to promote the multi-use value of the forest. Through exploiting the economic, environmental, and ecological values of forests and hill forest land effectively and sustainably, Bao Thang district has brought the highest income to forest workers, associated with protecting the ecological environment.
Bao Thang district is a locality with a large area of forest and forest land. Determining to focus on the hill and forest economy, with an area of over 690km2 mainly forestry land, the district is part of the development strategy of Lao Cai province. Implementing Resolution 10 dated August 26, 2021 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee on the Strategy for developing agricultural commodities in Lao Cai province to 2030, with a vision to 2050, therefore, with over 30,000 hectares of production forest, economic value of over 36 million VND/year, the forestry development strategy has contributed to improving the lives of ethnic minorities in Bao Thang district.
In order to synchronously implement solutions from production area planning and crop restructuring, Bao Thang district has innovated production organization towards value chain linkage. In particular, the district pays great attention to the management of forestry plant varieties, developing high-quality plant varieties, and encouraging establishments to apply high technology in seed production. In the district, there are currently 39 establishments producing and trading forestry plant varieties with a scale of 14.3 hectares, a capacity of about 15.3 million seedlings/year, providing seedlings to serve the people's forest planting needs. At the same time, the district also has many mechanisms and policies to support development and attract investment in forest product processing.
A typical example is the family of Mrs. Thao Thi Ve, a Mong ethnic in Mom Dao village, Thai Nien commune, who has just exploited about 1 hectare of cinnamon and fat trees, and has earned over 200 million VND. With 4 hectares planted in the form of overlapping crops, to be harvested consecutively between years, combined with business, Mrs. Ve's family has escaped poverty, and their life is getting better and better. Mrs. Ve happily smiled and said: "In the past, my family did not know how to plant trees, only worked the hills to grow rice, so we did not have enough to eat. Now we have switched to growing forestry trees, which has helped my family have a more prosperous life."
In Khe Ba village, Phu Nhuan commune, many vacant land areas are being covered with trees. Thanks to more than 280 hectares of cinnamon, the lives of 120 Dao ethnic households here have changed every day. More and more spacious houses are being built among the cinnamon forests, the whole village has only 6 poor households, this year Khe Ba strives for an average income per capita of 45 million VND/year. Secretary of Khe Ba village Party cell, Mr. Trieu Kim Phuc said: "To improve the quality of cinnamon, I have promoted organic products for people to use in the cinnamon area. Planting forests not only eliminates hunger and reduces poverty, but also contributes to protecting the environment and limiting climate change".
Bao Thang district currently has over 30,000 hectares of production forest, including 25,000 hectares of planted forest with about 8,000 hectares of cinnamon. Since the beginning of the year, people have exploited 3,500m3 of various types of wood, worth over 5.5 billion VND, creating stable jobs for many local workers.
To further improve the forest economy, especially in ethnic minority areas, the district is actively mobilizing people to convert low-economically efficient hilly land to forestry trees associated with organic production and deep processing, striving to increase the value of forestry production from 35 million VND/ha in 2022 to 40 million VND/ha in 2025. Head of the Ethnic Affairs Department of Bao Thang district, Mr. Pham Van Tung shared: “We regularly approach, propagate, and train people in Bao Thang district on techniques for planting, caring for, and protecting forests. At the same time, we also help ethnic minorities access preferential capital. Thanks to afforestation and forest economic development, ethnic minorities here are more prosperous.”
It can be affirmed that, with the attention and investment of the State, together with the political system from the province to the district for the work of forest protection and development, it has brought high efficiency. Deputy Head of the Forest Protection Department of Bao Thang district, Mr. Ha Nguyen Van Nam said: “In recent years, the work of forest development in Bao Thang district has had many positive changes. The district has fully, promptly and effectively implemented policies to support seedlings and pay for forest environmental services. For many years, the district has always completed and exceeded the targets of forest planting and development. The forest coverage rate of the district has increased every year. Forests are helping local people not only to reduce poverty, but also to become increasingly well-off.”
By the end of 2023, Bao Thang district had 840 households that had escaped poverty, the whole district had only 4.72% of poor households. Average income per capita reached 72.8 million VND/year. This achievement was thanks to the attention and support of the Party, the State, the cooperation of all levels and sectors to the people, especially ethnic minorities, helping them develop production from the forest, contributing to the socio-economic development in the locality. The appearance of the mountainous border district of Bao Thang is increasingly improving.
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