Developing large timber forests attached to agricultural restructuring

Aiming for becoming a center of planted timber

Quang Tri has nearly 286,000 hectares planed for forestry including 121,000 ha of planted forests. On average, the province has 6,500-7,000 ha of newly-planted forests every year, maintaining the coverage of 50%.

Over the past years, planting forests has become a widespread movement and has been scaled-up in Quang Tri.  Initially, the movement created on-spot jobs for tens of thousands of rural workers, contributing to improving the income and livelihoods of forest growers.

However, most forest growers in Quang Tri have been still impatient for result. Typically, 4 or 6 years after planting lumber trees they will harvest and sell to woodchip factories in the area. Therefore, the productivity, output and value of planted forests are still low and environmental values are not improved significantly.

In recent years, many companies have invested in timber processing factories in the province. They have also linked up with growers to plant and buy wood from planted forests, creating favorable conditions for the development of afforestation. Some of them conducted surveys and got approval from local governments for investing in standard nurseries to provide high-quality seedlings to forest growers.

With the strengths in natural conditions, soil, human resources and market, Quang Tri's agricultural sector is oriented towards developing intensive forest plantation, selling and buying wood products with long-term forest management cycle to serve large-sized timber production and provide raw materials for timber processing industry as well as add value to wood from planted forests.

To achieve the goal, since 2016 Quang Tri province issued a wide range of mechanisms and policies, working with international organizations to develop timber plantations, step up intensive forest plantations, aiming for improving the productivity and quality of planted forests, contributing to effective exploitation of each hectare of land.

With the drastic and synchronous participation of specialized agencies, forest owners, people and local governments, Quang Tri has implemented a series of programs, projects on forest development, especially planted forest for lumber.

In the 2016-2020 period, Quang Tri planted nearly 41,000 hectares of concentrated forests and 12.7 million of scattering trees of which more than 39,000 ha were planted with timber trees.  Particularly, in 2021 the province had almost 10,000 ha of concentrated forests and more than 3.1 million scattering trees.

This is the favorable condition for forest growers and wood processing industry in Quang Tri to go further, contributing to improving the livelihoods of local communities, making an important contribution to local economic performance. 

Ho Xuan Hoe, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Tri province said the Resolution of the 17th Quang Tri Party Congress determined to make Quang Tri become a center of planted timber in the Central region.  On that basis, the province’s agricultural authority advised the Quang Tri People's Committee to issue many support policies for crops, livestock to create key products including the policy for developing large timber forests.

Large timber plantation - "Strike while the iron is hot"

Ho Xuan Hoe, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Tri said since 2018 the province designed a project to improve and develop cultivated varieties of timber trees. Accordingly,  the varieties that were low quality, degraded, old and low-yield, the business facilities that traded the varieties of unknown origins and the nurseries that couldn't show proof of the source of mother trees would be removed. Forest growers have gradually changed their mindsets and used new varieties which are high-quality, high-yield and in accordance with the purpose of production and trading of forest products. The quality of planted forests has been increasingly improved and average plantation productivity is 20m3/ha/year or more.

In order to increase the quality of planted forests, Quang Tri encouraged the localities and forest owners to change from providing raw materials for wood chip factories to trading large-sized timber. Many programs have been implemented in cooperation with Vietnam Administration of Forest and the National Agriculture Extension Center to help local people convert small timber plantations into large timber forests.

In 2019, Quang Tri planed a project on large-sized timber forest development for the 2019-2025 period with a vision to 2030 with the aim at establishing and developing high-yield and high-quality planted forest areas. The objective of the project is to make QuangTri become a center of planted timber and wood processing industry in the Central region; adding value to production and trading of timber forests, contributing to sucessfully implementing the agricultural restructuring project as well as improving the yield, quality and efficacy and competitiveness of planted timber.

Currently, Quang Tri is designing a project on sustainable forest development for the 2022-2026 period with a vision towards 2030 to soon put the plan into action.

Director of the Quang Tri Agricultural Extension Center, Tran Can said many demonstration models have been developed in the province including growing hybrid acacia trees from cuts on 25 hectares with the application of high technology to increase timber quality. Implementation period was from 2014 to 2017. Besides, the model of converting 96 hectares of hybrid acacia and acacia mangium forests into large-sized timber plantations have been implemented from 2018 to 2022.

Initial results showed that these models have proved effective and economic value has been increased significiantly. Forest growers participating in these models are equipped with the knowledge of selecting cultivated varieties, applying science and technology to intensive forestry operations. So far, these models have greatly changed the mindset of forest growers.

According to statistics released by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Tri, so far, the province had nearly 23,500 ha under acacia trees awarded FSC forest management certification. Quang Tri has established timber supply chains for FSC-certificated forests with the participation of the CoC-certificated companies such as Thu Hang Wood Processing Company, Nguyen Phong Company, Quang Tri Trading Company and Scansia Pacific. These enterprises pledged to buy the entire production of FSC-certificated timber from Quang Tri FSCG Association as well as from cooperatives for the prices 10-12% higher compared to non-FSC wood.

Ho Xuan Hoe added that the province called two investors to invest in construction of high-tech seed centers. Furthermore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) selected Quang Tri to participate in the project to develop material-growing areas for wood production and large timber forests in linkage with enterprises. The MARD will also prioritize resources in the 2021-2025 period for implementing the project. This will be the driving force to promote Quang Tri’s plan on large timber plantations in the coming years.

Aiming for 30,000 ha of FSC-certificated forests

In the 2021-2025 period, Quang Tri will deploy and implement policies as well as provide tissue-cultured hybrid acacia seedlings and fertilizers to growers to develop areas planted with high-quality timber trees with the aim of getting FSC forest management certification awarded. Quang Tri is striving towards 30,000 ha of planted forests receiving FSC certification.