VietNamNet Bridge - Pine trees in Gia Lai Province are pierced with holes so they will die slowly. Then the trees are cut down to clear land for growing pepper and lemon.

Hundreds of 30-year old pine trees in Ward No 499 of Dak Doa district in Gia Lai have died this way. Thousands of pepper trees grow as the pine trees die.

The pine forest in Ward No 499, covering an area of 96 hectares, was put under control of the Dak Doa Protective Forest Management Board, while the 170-hectare pine forest in Ward No 501 was controlled by the Mang Yang district People’s Committee.

However, despite protection, many big and old pine trees in the two wards still have died. Local people have many methods to make pine trees die quickly. They cut into the bottom of trees and then burn them. When reporters arrived in the forests, they saw a pine trees giving off smoke. 

If trees still do not die after burning, the people chop the trees down so to get land for pepper cultivation more quickly. 

Pointing to the large forestland area which has turned grey because of dead trees, Huynh Van Binh, a resident in Dak Djrang commune, said a lot of people chopped down pine trees not to get land for cultivation, but to sell to others for money. 

Illegal loggers cut down trees every day in the open air on trails with many passers-by.

Meanwhile, some other people try to appropriate land step by step. They fence forestland areas with barbed wire and then grow lemon and pepper together with pine trees. 

After the pine trees die because of their ‘help’, they have pepper and lemon gardens and report to the local authorities that they have reclaimed the land. 

Thousands of pine trees have been replaced by pepper and lemon trees. People’s gardens have enlarged rapidly as the pine forestland area has narrowed in front of local authorities’ eyes.

A local resident in Tan Phu hamlet of Dak Djrang commune said she had bought 6,000 square meters of land in Ward No 501 at VND10 million from a household in the same hamlet. Now having land for cultivation, the woman has decided to grow pepper.

Meanwhile, a man in the hamlet said at first, people grew lemon to ‘explore the situation’, because they will not lose much money if local authorities discover the illegal gardens. 

Later, once the gardens become ‘legal’ after several years of growth, people will grow pepper which can bring higher economic value.

Lao Dong