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Farmers reap benefits of planting local trees

A former plunderer of valuable trees in the nation’s forests is now making a decent living from planting and nurturing them.

He is part of a growing trend in the central province of Quang Binh where residents are planting trees that used to grow in local forests instead of easily harvestable ones like cajeput.

The longer-term strategy is helping them earn billions of dong while better protecting the local environment and helping preserve different kinds of valuable local trees.

A four-hectare forest in Ha village, Thanh Hoa commune, Tuyen Hoa district, has valuable trees said to be facing a high risk of extinction, like ironwood, canary-wood and aloe wood.

The forest is the lifelong achievement of farmer Dinh Xuan Dien, 78.

Dien said that in 1997, after a long time of working as illegal logger, he quit the job, unable to witness anymore the destruction he and his peers were wreaking on the nation’s forest and the environment. At that time, the State was encouraging citizens to join a campaign of planting forests.

Dien decided to take wild piece of land, which happened to be a national historic site, to plant trees and set up a farm.

Unlike other people, Dien did not plant trees like eucalyptus and cajeput, focusing instead on what used to grow traditionally in the area, like ironwood, canary-wood and aloe wood.

At that time, no person in the area could germinate these trees, so Dien took saplings from the forest. He did this over many years, taking saplings from the forest and planting them on his land. His patience and care has seen his forest grow to more than 2,000 ironwood trees, 500 canary wood trees and thousands of other trees.

Dien is the only man in the province with such a large collection of ironwood trees. Each of them has a diameter of about 50cm and is several dozen metres tall.

Dien and his family have lived well for several years now on income from forestry products. He sells ironwood mushrooms for 2 million VND (90 USD) per kilogramme, as well as fruits like grapefruits, oranges, jackfruits and bananas.

In 2014, Dien earned 600 million VND (26,600 USD) from selling aloe wood.

“I could have harvested early if I had planted eucalyptus and other kinds of trees. But this would not be good for the environment. I planted local trees with the hope of giving back to the forest its natural beauty and maintaining different kinds of valuble wood trees that I used to destroy.”

Dien is not the only person in the province that has shifted to planting and nurturing local trees.

Nguyen Xuan Thiet lives in Huong Hoa commune, Tuyen Hoa district. He converted 15ha of cajeput forest into one that was home to local trees including ironwood. The forest earns his family an income of several million dong (100 million VND equals 4,300 USD) per year.

Nguyen Tri Phuong, head of Tuyen Hoa district’s Agriculture and Rural Development Division, said that the time taken to plant and harvest local trees was double that of others, but the income it brought in many times more than industrial trees like cajeput and eucalyptus.

Planting local trees not only earned them good profits, but also protected the environment and preserved valuable trees that were in danger of being lost forever, he said.

Source: VNA Date:2017-05-15

South Australian Wine Association and business representatives visit Changyu winery in Yantai

This week Asian Agribusiness Consulting joined the South Australian Wine Association on a trip to the Changyu winery in Yantai.

The visit provided Changyu winery with the opportunity to introduce its products to the attending Australian business representatives.

A company tour, which included the introduction of the production facilities, provided visitors with a clear understanding on Changyu winery's productrion process and its products.

AAC 2017-05-12

South Australian Wine Association and business representatives visit Changyu winery in Yantai (2)

This week Asian Agribusiness Consulting joined the South Australian Wine Association on a trip to the Changyu winery in Yantai.

The visit provided Changyu winery with the opportunity to introduce its products to the attending Australian business representatives.

A company tour, which included the introduction of the production facilities, provided visitors with a clear understanding on Changyu winery's productrion process and its products.

AAC 2017-05-12

South Australian delegation visits Yantai apple garden and apple juice processing plant

" An apple a day keeps the doctor away". This week the South Australian delegation visited the Yantai Andre Pectin apple garden and its apple juice processing plant in Yantai.

During the visit the delegation was shown around Andre's company orchard, where an introduction on the apple-growing processes was held.

AAC 2017-05-12

China's taste for Australian beef a blessing for the industry

A continually growing demand for Australian cattle from China is likely to make the industry going from strength to strength, according to experts who are lauding China's taste for Aussie beef.

Following news that Australia's richest woman and mining magnate Gina Rinehart was seeking to ramp up cattle exports to China, industry experts have said that Australia's beef industry was likely to see a robust growth.

Michael Whitehead from the ANZ Bank's agribusiness sector overnight told News Corp that it is was no wonder Australia's richest were continuing to pour their money into the beef industry, citing Rinehart and retail giant Gerry Harvey as examples of prime beef investors.

"Being in control of the start of the beef supply chain is a great place to be if protein is going to be increasingly in short supply," Whitehead said of Australia's beef industry.

"Investors, too, are starting to look for industries that can't be disrupted. You can disrupt banks, hotels, media, taxis and property, but how do you disrupt Australian beef?"

"So it follows that if you are a billionaire, it is obvious that you will never lose your money by buying and investing in Australian cattle properties. It's a great project and space to be in."

Harold Mitchell, a prominent Australian beef investor, told News Corp that unlike the mining boom, after which demand for resources dropped, it was highly unlikely that a demand for basic proteins such as beef would subside, instead predicting that demand would continue to rise for decades to come, even if prices come down when supply catches up with demand.

"I've been a great supporter of the industry and still think it has a long way to go. There will always be a shortage of protein in a growing world," he said.

"The China trade is just starting to take off and the US has had so much demand for our hamburger meat; but things are changing fast and we are right at a point where the price of stock is so high that I fear a (price) collapse is coming."

He said if Australian suppliers could breed more beef cattle, Australia would be able to meet the demands for both local and overseas consumers for decades in the future.

Source: China Daily Date: 2017-05-12

China's taste for Australian beef a blessing for the industry (2)