Ta Quang Doan, from Khe Dong Hamlet, Dai Lich commune, was among villagers selected by local authority to participate in a project for shift to large timber forest plantations in 2020.

According to Doan, after receiving training, his household was better aware of benefits from planting large timber trees so he has transformed most of his land into a large timber forest plantation. He found the trees developing well, capable of providing a higher volume of wood when they are planted more densely.

Dai Lich commune has accelerated awareness campaigns so more farmers would be convinced to apply proper farming techniques in a selected area of planted forest and to harvest the trees within the period of 9 - 12 years, instead of 5 - 7 years like before.

Additionally, the commune has cooperated with the local forest protection department to transfer advanced technology and help growers select high-quality seedlings for newly-planted forests. So far, the commune has been home to over 1,000 hectares of large timber forest, mostly indigenous trees such as acacia, magnolia conifera, bodhi, and machilus bonii.

Van Chan district now has over 55,000 hectares of forest land, more than 20,000 hectares of which are forests. The district has seen an increase in area, quality and volume of wood harvested over the past several years.

The forests produce some 100 – 110 cu.m per hectare to satisfy demand for 55 wood processing facilities in the district.

The district is eyeing to raise its area of large timber forest to 4,000 by 2025 and increase timber reserve to 180 – 200 cu.m per hectare.