Exhausted
It has been nearly 2 months since storm No. 3 (Yagi) made landfall, and the damage it caused is still evident in the forests of Chi Linh City, including thousands of hectares of production forests assigned by the State to households. Trees on the mountains have fallen, and many areas have dried up and are no longer able to recover.
The historic storm caused varying degrees of damage to the production forests of households in Bac An commune. The family of Ms. Hoang Thi Nga in Vanh Lieng village was one of the households that suffered the most damage.
Ms. Nga said that 10 days before storm No. 3 made landfall, her family had just applied 2.5 tons of compound fertilizer to nearly 2.8 hectares of eucalyptus and acacia trees that had been planted for 4 years. This was the first crop of trees that her family had planted on this area after many years of cultivating bamboo shoots. The eucalyptus and acacia forests were growing well, and it would only take about 1 year to harvest. She and her husband estimated that each hectare would earn between 100 and 130 million VND. However, after just one storm, everything was now in ruins.
The damage that Ms. Nga's family had to endure did not stop there. In another production forest, 2.7 hectares of acacia and eucalyptus that her family had planted only 1-3 years ago were also destroyed after the storm. After the historic storm, it is estimated that Ms. Nga's family suffered billions of dong in damage. "For many years, my family's economy has depended on the forest area. The forest gives us food and clothes, but now it also takes away money, sweat and tears. My family is now burdened with bank debt," Ms. Nga sadly shared.
A few kilometers from Ms. Nga's house, Mr. Dang Van Tam's family (also in Bac An commune) has a production forest of nearly 5 hectares of pine, acacia and eucalyptus trees, which was also nearly half destroyed after storm No. 3.
Last season, on the same area, Mr. Tam invested in planting forests, earning a profit of 60 million VND/ha. Seeing the effectiveness, at the beginning of this year, he continued to plant 3,000 acacia and eucalyptus trees. The trees grew and developed well, but after the storm, most of them were broken and uprooted...
Mr. Tam calculated: "Not counting the cost of fertilizing and hiring a digging machine, just counting the seeds and fertilizers, it would cost about 100 million VND. Now hiring someone to clear broken trees is also very expensive, the cost of hiring labor is up to 500,000 VND/person/day."
The acacia and eucalyptus forests of many families in Ben Tam ward are in a similar situation. Mr. Pham Huu Sau's family in Trai Gao residential area has 3.15 hectares of acacia trees planted since 2020 that were almost completely destroyed by the storm. "The investment cost for this forest is about 150 million VND. 4 years of hard work, putting in so much effort, now all in vain," Mr. Sau said sadly.
Hope to get support for seedlings
The area of production forest allocated to people in Hai Duong is mainly in Chi Linh city with about 4,556 hectares. After storm No. 3, specialized agencies and local authorities have been coordinating to count the damage and propose to superiors to support households according to regulations. It is estimated that many households with allocated production forest area suffered 30-70% damage, some families suffered over 70% damage.
According to Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree No. 02/2017/ND-CP of the Government on "mechanisms and policies to support agricultural production to restore production in areas damaged by natural disasters and epidemics", for the area of forest trees and non-timber forest products grown on forestry land, seed gardens and seed forests damaged by over 70%, the State will support 4 million VND/ha; damage from 30 - 70% will be supported with 2 million VND/ha.
Many households contracted to produce forests said that the above support funds are very useful in difficult times like the present, but still low and not enough. "I still owe the bank and my brothers, so now I don't know how to get money to reinvest in production. I hope the State will consider and have a mechanism to support more seedlings and get preferential loans from banks to restore forest planting," Mr. Dang Van Tam suggested.
Some households with production forest areas also wish for the same thing. To restore production, in addition to seedlings, people also have to invest a lot of money in hiring people to clear fallen trees, digging machines, buying fertilizers, etc.
Currently, some households in Chi Linh City have cleared fallen trees in the assigned production forest area, waiting for favorable weather to start preparing the land and planting new crops.
However, there are still many areas of production forests that were damaged after the storm and have not been cleared, and are in a dry state. The Chi Linh Forest Protection Department and the Forest Management Board are actively propagating and urging households to speed up the clearing process to prevent forest fires that are at an extremely dangerous level. Regularly send officers to inspect, supervise, and guide people to strictly follow the instructions and recommendations of specialized agencies on forest fire prevention and fighting...
DAWNSource: https://baohaiduong.vn/rung-rung-nuoc-mat-tu-rung-396868.html
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