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Analysis of Technical and Policy Gaps of Project 661 Applied in Hoa Binh Province


topsoil and then drop the tree in, or even in places where it is easy to dig a hole, the planting hole is rarely dug to the correct size according to the design.

4.5. Analysis of technical and policy gaps of Project 661 applied in Hoa Binh province

4.5.1. Technical gap analysis

4.5.1.1. Plant breeding work:

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+ In Hoa Binh, the regulations on forestry seed management have not been fully implemented, so the quality of the seedling sources put into production in recent years has not been guaranteed, the seed sources have not been inspected, and some seed production facilities have not been registered for business. The management of forestry seedling varieties still has many shortcomings, and the origin and source of the seeds put into protective forest planting have not been fully checked, so although the area of ​​protective forest has increased significantly, the quality of the planted forest is still low. There is no clear planning of the nursery system, so the planting of seedlings is still scattered, everyone does their own thing (especially the private sector), local authorities cannot manage quantity and quality, so they are often passive about seeds, and there is a conflict between supply and demand because no unit has grasped the annual needs of protective forest planting. Regulations on seed management have been issued but are difficult to implement in practice, especially the management of native tree varieties. The reason for this problem is that the current source of native tree seedlings is taken from natural forests through collection by people because the seed forests are not able to provide enough. Therefore, it is also necessary to consider specifically and make appropriate regulations in the actual conditions of the locality.

+ The quality of forestry seeds used for forest planting is still limited. Forestry companies and management boards have to complete their assigned tasks every year, so the forest planting work still follows the plan. Many production facilities and project management boards often sow seedlings late (after Tet, seedlings are sown while in June - July, they have to plant forests).


Planting trees that are not old enough affects the survival rate and growth ability, especially for native trees. In particular, the Lac Son District Project Management Board also bought damaged bamboo seedlings from Thanh Hoa and brought them back to plant, leading to the failure of bamboo planting models. In addition, hybrid Acacia trees have poor resistance to storms, leading to many trees falling down. Moreover, in newly planted areas, Acacia species are bitten by crickets, killing the trees, so many replantings are required.

+ Because the plan is often delivered late, the seed preparation stage is slow, leading to low standards of seedlings for forest planting, especially native trees.

+ The varieties put into production are mainly traditional varieties, not applying new varieties with high productivity that have been recognized in recent years.

+ In remote areas, the large size of the seedling pots makes it difficult to transport seedlings.

4.5.1.2. Tree species and protective forest planting models applied:

+ In Hoa Binh, there is a lack of specific technical instructions for each mixed crop species in each model and associated with each site condition and each specific region.

+ Crop structure must be based on natural conditions and site conditions of each region, however, this has not been satisfactorily resolved. The selection of crop structure is shown in Decision No. 661/QD-TTg dated July 29, 1998 of the Prime Minister. The Government assigned localities to select and then submit to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for approval based on research results, site conditions and opinions of relevant local agencies.

However, in Hoa Binh, studies on the above issues are still very few, mainly based on practical experience, lacking sufficient scientific basis, so the persuasiveness is not high. Therefore, the crop structure in some localities is not yet


In accordance with site conditions, the current status of protective forests shows that most of the supporting trees overwhelm the main crops (native trees), leading to poor growth and elimination of the main trees.

+ The assessment of land and site is almost not fully implemented, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Forestry Department and the Management Board of Project 661 have not paid due attention, so the selection of crop structure according to the principle "Soil, tree" has not been thoroughly applied. Therefore, there is a lack of basis in choosing suitable plant species for the soil conditions of each place. There are two reasons leading to the above situation:

Firstly , at the beginning of the Central Project, there was no adequate guidance and investment in site assessment and tree selection activities in the forest planting design activities.

Second, the capacity of local forestry staff is still limited, so the selection of crop structure based on site is not yet satisfactory.

+ The selection of tree species in the grassroots projects still faces many difficulties. The issue of selecting tree species suitable for the site conditions for each forest planting location has not been given adequate attention. The selection of tree species is often guided by the Project Management Board staff to the people, while the Board staff lack both professional qualifications and manpower. Due to the remote and isolated areas, the conditions for the Board's technical staff to have practical contact and select tree species are still limited. Therefore, in many places, the selected trees are not suitable for the site conditions, so their growth and development are slow.

+ The experimental planting of some new plant species lacks scientific basis and is mainly based on experience.

+ Currently, in some models, people arbitrarily plant Acacia mangium into the model (not included in the design). This is a fast-growing tree species, and after just a few years it will become the main canopy layer of the model.


With the already high planting density, adding newly planted Acacia will cause great competition in these models, greatly affecting the growth of the main protective crops.



Photo 4.9: People themselves plant Acacia auriculiformis in the model of Luong + Green Lim in Tu Ne - Tan Lac

+ The structure of forest planting models of many Project Management Boards is still poor, each Board only focuses on planting a few models, so the models are not diverse, not fully promoting the forest planting models of the province. Synonymous with that, many promising models in many areas have been ignored or have not had the opportunity to demonstrate.

+ The selection of plants and models is still imposed, people have little opportunity to choose the models they like while this is a very important issue related to people's awareness of building, caring for and protecting forests.

4.5.1.3. Forest planting density and planting method:

+ In general, applying mainly the same density type for all different models and different tree species is not suitable because the tree species and models


Different shapes have very different characteristics. There is no regulation on planting density for each specific site condition.

+ Up to now, it is still unclear whether the main protective crops should be planted at the same time or later than the supporting crops.

+ Many silvicultural models do not comply with the technical design of the arrangement of trees in the model. Especially in some places, planting too close together between the rows of supporting trees and the rows of main protective trees will cause early competition, the native trees are overwhelmed by the supporting trees, and slow growth.

develop as in the models

Photo 4.10: Green Lim is planted too close to Acacia auriculiformis in Van Son - Lac Son

Mixed green Lim + Acacia auriculiformis, Bamboo + Flowered larch.

+ The size of the planting hole is not dug as designed, especially in places where the soil is dry and hard and difficult to dig, people only dig very small holes, just enough to put the tree in, thus greatly affecting the survival rate and growth of the plant.

+ The density and arrangement of forest planting are still too monotonous, stereotyped for all tree species, mixed types while the characteristics of each model are different and the planting site conditions are also very different. If considered in terms of technique, the applied silvicultural models are only divided into 2 main groups: technical measures for planting mixed bamboo with native trees and planting mixed supporting trees with main crops. In particular, in the technical measures for planting mixed trees


In order to support the main crop, it is unreasonable to design a common planting technique for all plant species. This is unreasonable because different models have different growth characteristics, and on different types of sites, the applied techniques also need to be different to suit each type of site.

+ The density of forest planting is still too dense, especially in the mixed model of native trees and supporting trees, 2 native trees are only 2m apart from supporting trees, 2 supporting trees are 1.6m apart. Due to the characteristics of native trees, they only grow slowly in the first 3 years, then need to gradually open their canopy to grow, but in reality, because the trees are planted too densely, at about 4 or 5 years old, it is necessary to thin out the canopy for native trees, while the supporting tree is Acacia auriculiformis, but the size of the supporting tree is not yet suitable for commercial timber, while if used as firewood, it is very wasteful. Therefore, planting too densely as designed will lead to the situation where it is a pity to remove the supporting trees, but if left, it will suppress the main crop.

4.5.1.4. Exploitation and thinning of supporting trees:

+ The biggest technical gap in localities in general and Hoa Binh in particular is guidance on thinning of supporting trees in mixed forest planting models of supporting trees and main crops. Supporting trees have had the effect of shading native trees in the early years, but now main crops are being overwhelmed by supporting trees, leading to poor growth and elimination of main crops. The Forestry Department has issued 2 regulations guiding the thinning and exploitation of supporting trees according to Decision No. 1053/LN -SDR dated August 23, 2006 on the exploitation of protective forests under Program 327 and Project 661; Decision No. 1697/LN-LS dated December 19, 2005 on guidance on cutting, nurturing and exploiting, thinning supporting trees for protective forests of Project 327 and 661, but in Hoa Binh there are still no specific instructions or implementation according to these instructions. On the other hand, if there is no instruction


In many places, people still arbitrarily enter the forest to cut down trees, breaking, knocking down and killing many main protective trees.

+ Technical guidance documents have not reached foresters, especially households that invest their own capital to plant forests. While the trend of socializing forestry is growing stronger.

4.5.2. Policy gap analysis

- The current system of forestry officers in the province is still very lacking, especially the grassroots project staff. The staff of the grassroots project management boards is very thin, each board has only 4-6 people, including 1 head, 1 deputy head, 1 technical officer and 1 accountant. To implement the project to the people, the boards must hire additional contract officers to be in charge of the communes, in which each officer must be in charge of many communes. Because the communes currently no longer have a commune forestry board (there is only a vice chairman in charge of the agriculture and forestry sector), implementing the project to the people is facing many difficulties.

- After the end of the forest planting and care period, the forest area is handed over to the commune and the people for protection, the 661 project management board has no further rights and responsibilities. While currently, according to the new planning of 3 types of forests of the province, many areas of planted protective forests are converted to production forests, at that time it is very difficult to maintain the area of ​​native trees such as green Lim, Lat Hoa,... planted in this area.

- The investment rate for 1 hectare of protective forest has been adjusted but is still too low and slow to change according to market price fluctuations. In 2000 it was 2.5 million VND/ha; in 2003 it was adjusted to 4 million VND/ha, in 2008 it was adjusted to 6 million VND/ha. The low investment rate makes the labor cost too cheap compared to the market price. This leads to a conflict between the requirement of high quality of planted forest and too low labor cost, so in most Management Boards people cannot comply.


The 661 Project has not really attracted people to participate in the Project, in many places people only participate in the Project when they have nothing else to do.

- The same investment rate is still applied to all types of models on all types of sites with different forest planting conditions. This is completely contrary to production practice when on different types of sites, the ability to successfully plant forests is also very different, so to ensure successful forest planting in places with difficult site conditions such as harsh climate, high slope, degraded land, difficult travel, etc., the investment rate must be higher than in other places. From that reality, in many places, people only accept to plant protective forests in places that are easy to plant, while in more difficult places, very few forests are planted or if planted, the ability to become forests is very limited. Therefore, in some places, it has led to the phenomenon of production forest land being planned for protective forests to take advantage of State capital.

- Applying a closed mechanism according to regulations from top to bottom. The regulation of investment rate for each type of model should be based on the price of labor and materials for that model based on each specific forest planting condition, but in many places in Hoa Binh, the opposite is true. The regulation of labor and materials prices is adjusted to match the investment rate that has been given in advance. Therefore, the adjustment of material and labor prices in the models is often subjective and imposed, not suitable for reality. Even digging holes to plant trees with dimensions of 40x40x40 cm or 50x50x50 or 60x60x60 cm does not depend on technical requirements but is the basis for adjustment to match the total investment rate for 1 hectare. However, in reality, with labor prices being too low, forest planters can rarely dig holes to plant trees with the above dimensions.

- Acceptance is still too heavy on design, in many places people grow honey

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