Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) – Household-owned timber plantations must be substantially reformed in order to yield sustainable profits for their owners. Plantations owned by households account for 38 percent of the total area of timber plantations in the country, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The case of Ho Da The, a farmer in a mountainous commune in Phu Loc district in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, shows that forestation on barren hills could be profitable for the growers. “I have earned around 200 million VND (8,800 USD) on one hectare of the plantation since 2015,” he said. The added he started his planting in 2007 thanks to a funding programme by World Bank. According to a report by the Vietnam Academy for Forest Sciences, the total area of plantations in Vietnam grew from one million hectares in 1990 to 2.7 million hectares in 2005. The increase meant that the country’s plantation area is among the largest in the world. The report also said the area has grown gradually since 2005 thanks to innovation in policies for forestry development, including granting forest land to locals. The country’s turnover from timber exports has enjoyed year-on-year increases since 2008, with timber exploited from localities of HCM City, Binh Duong and Dong Nai in the south; Binh Dinh, Quang Tri and the Central Highlands in the central region; as well as Phu Tho, Tuyen Quang and Yen Bai in the north. The localities consumed timber from plantations around the country to… [Read full story]
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