Support to buy insurance for FSC certified plantation forest

The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has recently held a survey trip to Quang Tri province on the matter of wood material area project that is sustainable certified.

Policies in need to promote and develop FSC certified plantation forest

According to the report of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Tri, there are over 245,800 hectares of forested land in the province, of which natural forests are more than 126,700 hectares, and planted forests are more than 119,000 hectares. Production forest area is about 95,675 hectares; of which the area of acacia plantations is over 81,000 hectares.

Along with the policies of the central government, since 2010, Quang Tri province has issued many mechanisms and policies, and cooperated with international organizations to promote media activities on the transformation of the model of afforestation to produce wood chips to large timber plantation model with certificate of sustainable forest management (FSC certificate).

As a result, Quang Tri became the first province in Vietnam to be granted a certificate of sustainable forest management according to FSC standards for organizations and household models. Up to now, the province has 22,067 hectares of FSC certified planted forests.

In particular, the province has established a chain of consumption of FSC certified planted forest wood with CoC certified enterprises that have signed a commitment to cover the entire output of certified timber of the Quang Tri FSC Association in general and other cooperatives in particular with prices 15 - 18% higher than those of uncertified timber.

In the period of 2021 - 2025, the area of certified plantation forest in the whole province will be from 26,050 to 28,550 hectares, by 2030 it will be about 30,000 hectares.

Based on the real situation, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Tri proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should have policies to encourage and develop FSC certified plantations in order to well implement the project of developing certified plantation timber material areas sustainably in the central region for processing and exporting in the period of 2021 - 2025; Vietnam's forestry development strategy in the period of 2021 - 2030. The Department also proposes the MARD to connect large-scale enterprises to invest in and associate with organizations producing timber from planted forests in the province...

Support to buy insurance for FSC certified plantation forest

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Tri province, Ms. Nguyen Hong Phuong, in order to achieve the goals of developing large timber forests, Quang Tri province needs the help of ministries and other sectors, especially the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

“The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development needs to issue strong enough policies to encourage and develop FSC certified plantations in order to well implement the Scheme on developing sustainable certified plantation timber material areas as well as the Forest Development Strategy of Vietnam in the period of 2021 - 2030 that was issued according to Decision No. 523/QD-TTg dated April 1, 2021 of the Prime Minister.

At the same time, there should be a policy of exemption from land use tax, natural resources tax, initial financial support with preferential tax rates for individuals, businesses and cooperatives participating in planting forests, especially planting large timber forests with FSC certificate", suggested Ms. Phuong.

Surveying some FSC afforestation models in Quang Tri, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam highly appreciated Quang Tri province's initiative and drastic in sustainably developing a large timber plantation model with forest management certificates.

In order to implement the project of developing a sustainable certified plantation wood material area in the Central region for processing and export in the 2021-2025 period, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is committed to supporting the locality in ensuring the infrastructure of the production area; training human resources, management, tissue culture hybrid acacia... for cooperatives to organize production according to the scheme's planning.

Simultaneously, building a pilot model of support to buy insurance for large timber plantations, especially FSC certified plantations, to limit risks and help cooperatives and forest growers feel secure in their investments in afforestation with a long term business certificate. Support to connect with businesses in value chain production.

According to the Project on Development of large timber plantations in Quang Tri province by 2025, with a vision to 2030, the whole province is expected to develop a large timber business area by 2025 to reach about 16,700 hectares; contribute to improving economic efficiency for forest growers and provide raw materials for the export furniture processing industry.