Forestry

Ensuring the forest cover rate at 42% and the export turnover of forest products reaching 14 billion USD are two important targets that the forestry sector is continuing to strive to achieve in the last 6 months of 2021. According to Director General of the General Department of Forestry Nguyen Quoc Tri, there are still many related difficulties that need to be removed when implementing these two indicators.

  The export turnover of forest products reaching 14 billion USD is an important target that the forestry sector should strive to achieve in the whole year of 2021. (Illustration image: QH)

Export of forest products increased by 61.6% over the same period

In the first 6 months of 2021, in the context of many difficulties, however, the forestry sector still recorded many outstanding results. In particular, the management of seed quality is seriously implemented by localities. As a result, in the first 6 months of 2021, 658 million seedlings of all kinds have been prepared for the afforestation plan, equal to 145% compared to the same period in 2020. The planted forest area under control of varieties reaches 85%. Also in the first 6 months of the year, 13 new high-yield and high-quality forestry plant varieties have been recognized.

Regarding afforestation, as of June 23, 2021, the whole country has planted 108,258 hectares, reaching 41.63% of the 2021 plan, equaling 122% compared to the same period in 2020, concentrated in some northern provinces, Northeast region, in which, protection forest reached 1,315 ha; production forest reached 106,868 ha. Regarding scattered trees, the whole country planted 41,272 million trees, reaching 34.4% of the plan, equaling 102% over the same period in 2020.

Regarding forest protection and forest fire prevention and fighting, continue to be concerned and directed by localities. However, there are still some hot spots for deforestation in some provinces such as Bac Kan, Son La, Thua Thien Hue, Dak Nong, Gia Lai. The main cause is deforestation for swidden cultivation.

Also in the first 6 months of 2021, 1,329 violations affecting the forest were detected, down 114 cases (equivalent to 8%) compared to the same period in 2020; revenue and payment to the state budget 29.5 billion dong. Accumulated damaged forest area in 6 months is 1,210 ha, down 1,380 ha (equivalent to 53% decrease) over the same period in 2020.

Most prominently in the first 6 months of 2021, the export value of forest products was estimated at USD 8.71 billion, up 61.6% over the same period in 2020. In which, wood of all kinds reached USD 1.76 billion, up 23.6%; wood products 6.35 billion USD, up 75.4%; non-timber forest products $0.6 billion, up 72.9%.

The export markets of wood and forest products, including the United States, Japan, China, the EU, and South Korea, continue to be important export markets for Vietnamese wood and forest products. The export value to these 5 markets is estimated at over 7.68 billion USD, accounting for about 89% of the total export turnover of the country.

In general, in the first 6 months of 2021, the whole forestry sector has drastically focused on implementing assigned tasks, providing timely and appropriate solutions to the actual situation. Therefore, the whole industry has achieved positive results, making an important contribution to the results of the overall production of the Agriculture sector.

Efforts to achieve 2 key targets

According to Director General of the General Department of Forestry Nguyen Quoc Tri, in the last 6 months of 2021, there are two very important targets for the industry that need to be ensured. That is the target of ensuring the forest coverage rate reaches 42% and the export value of forest products is about 14 billion USD.

Regarding the implementation of the task of achieving the forest coverage rate of 42% in 2021 as well as in the period of 2021-2025, according to Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tri, this target involves 3 tasks. The first is the task of forest protection; the second is about forest fire prevention and fighting and the third is about changing forest use purposes and developing forests.

For the task of forest protection and forest fire prevention and fighting, which is a work related to many factors, from people to climate and natural conditions. Therefore, at present, this activity is still facing many difficulties because it is related to deforestation with various causes.

Notably, in recent weeks, the weather has been very severe, greatly affecting the forest fire prevention and fighting, especially in the central coastal area, without rain and intense heat; Careless use of fire caused forest fires such as in Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Quang Binh, etc. Especially the recent forest fire in Huong Thuy town, Thua Thien Hue province, it took a long time to recover. control the fire.

Therefore, in this regard, Mr. Tri said, in the coming time, the General Department of Forestry will continue to coordinate with a number of press agencies to warn of early detection of fire spots and conduct inspect in a number of localities to raise the spirit of forest fire prevention and fighting. On the other hand, it will coordinate with the hydro-meteorological forecasting agency of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to have weather information 7 days in advance for localities to have specific response solutions.

Regarding the task of forest development, especially on planting trees, Mr. Tri said that the afforestation and zoning for reforestation basically followed the plan, however, for the target of scattered afforestation, Up to now, planting has increased by 2% compared to 2020. However, such an increase is not guaranteed because it has only reached one third of this year’s plan (planting 150 million trees).