The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced a draft decree yesterday, which will boost forest protection and development by doubling financial support for poor ethnic minorities in forest areas.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced a draft decree yesterday, which will boost forest protection and development by doubling financial support for poor ethnic minorities in forest areas.
The decree will provide mechanisms and policies to encourage forest regeneration and protection, promote, and develop non-wood forest products in line with poverty reduction through 2020. Ethnic minority households in the mountainous and rural areas will be the beneficiaries of the decree.
Households involved in forest protection will be paid VND400,000 (US$18.8) per hectare per year, doubling the payment from the current level.
Those committed may receive up to VND1 million ($47.1) per hectare per year within six years for low-intensity efforts, and VND2 million ($94.3) per hectare per year within the first three years.
Individuals can earn VND10 million ($471) per hectare if the forest has trees that are more than 10 years old, and VND6 million ($282) per hectare for trees that were planted less than a decade ago.
These households will also be granted additional support, such as a supply of rice and favourable interest rates for bank's loans.
At a discussion of the draft decree yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh, said the protection and development of forests was one of the measures being adopted for achieving sustainable poverty reduction.
He added that the draft resolution should encourage residents to make full use of forest land for developing production and livestock by offsetting interest costs through bank loans.
He said the rate of poor households in remote areas had fallen by over five per cent annually. However, that percentage of ethnic minorities remained as high as 50 per cent.
Participants approved the issuance of the decree and also suggested raising the number of beneficiaries to include the Kinh people, who also live in disadvantaged areas.
(Source:VNS)
