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There are 4,135,541 hectares of planted forests, an increase of 43,425 hectares over 2016.
The figures show that the planted forest area has been increasing steadily year after year. With the forest quality improved, the wood from planted forests will replace wood from natural forests.
Problems
Acacia and eucalyptus trees are often chopped down when still immature in some northern midland and mountainous provinces such as Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Tuyen Quang, Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc.
As the trees are exploited before they age, the quality of wood is not high. Along Highway No 70, from Phu Tho to Lao Cai, and Highway No 2 from Vinh Phuc to Tuyen Quang and Ha Giang, there are many wood processing workshops.
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As the trees are exploited before they age, the quality of wood is not high. Even very small tree trunks can be sold: they will be ground into wood chips to sell to paper mills. |
Even very small tree trunks can be sold: they will be ground into wood chips to sell to paper mills.
Experts have warned against young timber exploitation, saying that the quality of young wood is poor.
Nguyen Thai Binh, head of the Yen Bai Forest Rangers’ Unit, said that to encourage people to plant forests and consider this a career, it is necessary to give support to the large forest plantation areas in the province in the 2018-2025 period.
It is expected that by 2030, the province will have 11,875 hectares of large forests to provide large timber for processing and export, while the proportion of large timber will increase from 30-40 percent currently to 50-60 percent by 2020 and above 60 percent from 2020.
However, Binh said there are still many problems. The quality of timber exploited from planted forests remains low. Vietnam has an abundant labor force, but most of them are untrained workers with low productivity.
Meanwhile, the world's requirements on environmental protection have become strict. Many countries have set regulations on tracking down timber origin.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) confirmed that most planted forest timber is exploited just after four to five years of plantation. The timber can be used as wood chips and pulp production, not to make wooden furniture.
It is estimated that one hectare of planted forest in Vietnam can bring income of VND12-15 million a year.
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