Southern Tra Vinh province’s forest coverage increases by nearly 400 ha in two years

People grow mangrove in Cau Ngang district, southern province of Tra Vinh. (Photo: VNA)

Tra Vinh (VNA) – The forest coverage in the southern province of Tra Vinh increased from about 9,160 ha in 2020 to 9,538 ha by the end of 2022, according to the provincial People’s Commitee.

The figures were released on March 16 as the province announced its forest status after two years implementing a project on growing coastal protection forests to respond to climate change during the 2021-2025 period.

Under the project, the province will plant about 800 ha of forests to raise its coverage to 4.2% by 2025.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Le Van Han said that the province planned to use 12,250 ha of coastal area for afforestation and over 11,720 ha for aquaculture and agriculture production.

Tran Van Dung, Deputy Director of Tra Vinh provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said to expand forest area, the province has implemented policies to support the afforestation and protection of mangroves in the province.

Accordingly, farming households and organisations that grow at least 0.3 ha will be supported to buy seedlings. For households and individuals that signed contracts to manage protection forests and production forests, the province will directly give them 500,000 VND (21 USD) per ha per year in cash.

In the coastal districts of Duyen Hai, Cau Ngang and Chau Thanh, and Duyen Hai town, there are about 5,000 hectares of forests under the management by locals.

They also develop aquaculture production models in coastal forest areas with some generating an annual income of about 60-70 million VND per ha./.