CaMau (VNS/VNA) - The southernmost province of Ca Mau in recent yearshas developed its protection and commercial forests, whichprovide much-needed household, export and tourism revenue.

Lastyear, the province planted 506ha of new forests, and replanted 4.2ha ofreplacement forests and 100ha of special-use forests. Italso replanted more than 3,000ha of commercial forests that harvested woodlast year.

CaMau has more than 94,000ha of concentrated forests, including about 52,000ha ofcommercial forests, 18,000ha of special-use forests, and 23,000ha ofprotection forests.

InU Minh Ha forest, the area of high-quality commercial foreststotals 22,300ha. The cultivation of forests under intensive growingmethods in U Minh Ha has offered farmers a wood output of 150-200cu.m. per hectare.

Woodis one of five key agricultural products in the province’sagriculture restructuring plan. The other key agricultural products areshrimp, high-quality rice, mud crabs and bananas.

Thisyear, the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development plans togrow 312ha of new forests, aiming to increase the province's coverage rateto 26.2 percent by the end of this year and to 27 percent in 2025.

Tomeet the coverage rate, the province will plant more than 29 million trees, or10,892ha of new forests, from now to 2025.

LeVan Su, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, hastold departments and localities to protect existing forests,especially special–use and protective forests.

Commercial forests

Thecultivation of commercial forests has offered a good income for farmers inrecent years. Under the instruction of local authorities and forestrycompanies, farmers have grown acacia trees for wood as thelarge tree has a high yield and high quality.

InU Minh District’s Khanh Thuan Commune, farmers have used intensive cultivation methodsto grow forests and have switched from cajuput to acacia. Ittakes about five years to harvest acacia trees.

Farmerscan earn 100-500 million VND (4,300-21,600 USD) by harvesting wood from onehectare of commercial forest.    

DaoThi Nho in Khanh Thuan’s Hamlet 18 said she moved the hamlet in 1990 and waspoor at that time, but she began planting forests in recent years.  

“Lifeis now more comfortable,” she said.

Thecommune’s average income per capita has increased to 45 million VND (1,940 USD)a year, up 15 percent against 2015.

Besidesforests, farmers in the communes grow other short-term crops and animalsto improve income, which provides funds while theywait to harvest the wood.

FarmerNguyen Van Man grows 4ha of commercial forests and 3ha of banana trees inKhanh Thuan’s Hamlet 18. He earns an income of more than 10 million VND (430USD) a month selling bananas.

Tourism development

Withits mangrove forests, national park forests, nature preserves and birdsanctuaries, Ca Mau has rich resources for tourism services, according tothe province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Touristscan visit mangrove forests in the Mui Ca Mau National Park, plant trees onalluvial grounds in coastal areas, and visit bird sanctuaries and gardens.

LeVan Hai, head of the province’s Forest Protection Sub-department, said theprovince has many bird gardens, most of which are owned by households thatoffer ecotourism services. 

TruongMinh Thang, owner of the 10ha Tu Su bird garden in Thoi Binh District’s Bien BachDong Commune, began offering tourism services in 2018 with thesupport of the province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the ThoiBinh People’s Committee.

Localauthorities have also helped him renovate the garden canals and taught himhow to tend to bird species. His garden attracts a large numberof visitors each year.

“Duringthe last Tet (Lunar New Year)festival, the number of visitors fell by 60 percent compared to normalbecause of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the garden still receivedabout 1,000 visitors,” Thang said.

Thisyear he will build a homestay area separate from the bird garden.

Theprovince has offered support to households that offerhomestay services, and has called for more investment in key tourismdestinations such as the Ca Mau Cape Tourism Area in Ngoc Hien District.

Theprovince has attracted more than 1.5 million tourists each year to itsmajor tourism destinations since 2018, according to the Department ofCulture, Sports and Tourism.

Ittargets receiving 2.8 million tourists a year by 2030, including110,000 foreign tourists./.