Strengthening Vietnam's forestry sectors and rural development: Higher productivity, value, and access to fairer markets are needed to support small forest growers

• Published in: Trees, Forests and People (Online) Forests and People (Online), 2021-03, Vol.3, p.100052, Article 100052
• Main Author: Sadanandan Nambiar, E.K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptive on-farm research; Certification; Fair markets; Plantation productivity; Small forest growers; Wood value
• ISSN: 2666-7193; 2666-7193
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tfp.2020.100052

•Vietnam's forestry sector has significant green growth opportunities.•To realise this, the sector must produce more wood in plantations, and that is possible.•Hundreds of thousands of households are at the heart of this forestry.•Smallholders need support to apply profitable and sustainable practices.•Certification is yet to offer pathways to sustainable management or reliable benefits.•An impact focussed approach including with adaptive, on-farm work, co-investments and evaluation is needed. Vietnam has set an example for developing tropical countries on how plantation forestry and wood product sectors can improve rural development, the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people and national income. For sustainable growth, plantation forestry in Vietnam must expand production of both pulp wood and saw logs and secure long-term wood supply. Wood production is substantially in the hands of hundreds of thousands of small forest growers. Therefore, a national effort for increasing the wood supply can succeed only by enhancing engagement with these growers. They deserve support to apply evidence-based and sustainable practices and less interventions to access fair markets. For small growers, international forest certification systems remain needlessly complex and unaffordable and yet to offer improved pathways to sustainability or reliable benefits. Total wood production from Vietnam's forest plantations has increased substantially over the years, largely due to expansion of planted area. The contribution to this wood production from increased productivity per unit area is not known; this knowledge is essential for future planning. Based on available research information, it is possible to recommend best-bet-package of practices, tuned for each forestry sub-region, for broadscale application to increase productivity and wood value. The challenge is in establishing the enabling conditions for broadscale adoption, across diverse forest owners, many of whom have low incomes and assets. They need to be included as active partners in a change process, with locally adapted options, for managing their plantations for higher productivity and value. That process requires co-investments, new ways for technology transfer, impact assessments, risk minimisation, and importantly, effective public-private partnerships, rather than continuation of business-as-usual. A framework under the banner “Viet Net for Productive Plantation forests, Sustainability and National Bene