20 hectares of cultivated Bon Bo plants are ready for harvest in Dong Van commune, Que Phong district, Nghe An province and 5 hectares of degraded natural forests have been planted with 5,000 native forest trees in Son Linh commune, Ha Tinh province – these are the impressive results of small grant projects in its first year of implementation. These women-led, income generating activities have brought remarkable results. This project is supported by the CIRUM with funding from the EU.
The results of CIRUM's evaluation shows that these small projects were implemented on schedule, gradually delivered economic outcomes, and the leadership skills of the women were improved to a higher level through coordinating and organizating the community participation. In Dong Van commune, the BON BO planting models and the LUNG planting models have been well implemented, achieving significant outcomes in their first stages. 20 different planting models with a total area of 20 hectares of Bon Bo plants achieved a survival rate of over 70%. According to the evaluation conducted by CIRUM from 10-13/7/2018, 3 models will be harvested by October this year and the remaining models will start harvesting in 2019. It is estimated that the Bon Bo project will generate revenue of VND 10 million per hectare.
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Whereas, 5 hectares of degrated natural forests in Son Tinh Commune, Huong Son District, Ha Tinh Province has been intercropped with more than 5,000 indigenous forest trees seedlings, mainly of Lat Hoa species, with a survival rate of over 80%. In the coming year, the project management board will continue to plant another 5,000 trees of Lat Hoa, Cong and Vang Trung species on degraded areas belonging to the remaining 3 villages in the commune.
However, at some planting models, buffaloes and cows still eat the young leaves of Bon Bo, which delayed the plants’ development. In order to overcome these constraints, the owners of these planting models have been encouraged to erect cattle barriers to allow their plants to recover and grow.
Local forestry benefits local farmers and forest protection
In the next few months, the farmers will continue to grow and develop the plants in both Ha Tinh and Nghe An provinces. The Bon Bo trees and native forest trees will be planted to replace trees damaged by buffaloes. In addition, the authorities of Son Linh Commune and members of the Project Management Board are working on forming a cooperative, led by core members, with the goal of distributing more indigenous forest trees which will improve their livelihoods and deliver sustainableforest protection
