VietNamNet Bridge - Rubber is one of five major reasons behind the loss of forests in Vietnam.

 

Rubber is one of five major reasons behind the loss of forests in Vietnam.

Farmers cannot receive benefits from rubber plantations, while forests have been devastated and the forestland has shrunk.

Quang Nam provincial authorities decided to develop the rubber growing area because they believed it would help improve the local economy. 

However, the rubber development program turned out to be a pretext for local businesses and consumer to destroy forests. 

They have tried every possible means to encroach on the forestland and exploit forest resources.

The Quang Nam Rubber Company cleared hundreds of hectares of forestland from Cam La to Tu Nhu hamlets in Que Lam Commune of Nong Son to make room for rubber plantations.

Local agencies said that the company only tried to clear land in the production forest areas and that it was following necessary procedures to reclaim soil to expand the area for rubber plantations. 

Farmers cannot receive benefits from rubber plantations, while forests have been devastated and the forestland has shrunk.

However, local people said that the land areas in protective and special-use forests have also been occupied.

Hundreds of hectares of forestland have been cleared over the last three years for the rubber plantation, but locals in Cam La hamlet still cannot escape poverty as expected.

Though they now use electricity from the national grid, they still lead hard lives because they cannot live on the forests. Forests are the only livelihood for people in mountainous areas. 

“There were many dau rai trees (Dipterocarpus alatus) in the past, which were the source of income for our family. However, the dau rai area has shrunk because of rubber expansion,” said Nguyen Thi Ba, a local woman.

“Since we cannot live on dau rai trees any longer, our children have to leave the homeland for cities to earn their living,” she said.

Van Cong Tam, a local man, said he once hoped the rubber plantation program would create more jobs for locals and help reduce poverty. 

However, rubber has only been planted on a limited area, and locals ‘have nothing to do’.

Reporters said local residents told them that of the 152 hectares of land cleared for rubber plantations, 54 hectares were primitive forests, where dau rai trees have been growing for hundreds of years.

“Rubber cannot help people escape poverty. It has even made them poorer,” said an official of the Que Lam commune authorities.

According to Phan Thanh Binh, chair of Ba Commune, the rubber plantation program has proceeded slowly. Though the land has been reclaimed, rubber has still not been planted and land has been left idle.

“Two hundred hectares of land have been left unused, and locals lack land for cultivation,” he said.


CADA