TY - JOUR

T1 - An economic analysis of reforestation with a native tree species

T2 - The case of Vietnamese farmers

AU - Nguyen, Trung Thanh

AU - Koellner, Thomas

AU - Le, Quang Bao

AU - Lambini, Cosmas Kombat

AU - Choi, Ikchang

AU - Shin, Hio jung

AU - Pham, Van Dien

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments Our deep gratitude goes to the farmers in the two provinces of Son La and Bac Kan of Vietnam who have been working with us for years. Generous support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Forestry University, Vietnam (FUV), and the Projects TERRECO (DFGGRK 1565) and REGECON (01LA1101A) at the Bayreuth University, Germany are acknowledged. The authors thank Alexandra Bell and Daniela Kretz for their proofreading and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the earlier version.

PY - 2014/4

Y1 - 2014/4

N2 - The area of degraded forests in Vietnam is substantial, currently about 3.1 million ha of which about 1.7 million ha (55 %) were granted to individual farms for reforestation. However, the result of farmers' reforestation efforts is limited. We aimed to examine the financial return, technical efficiency, and factors determining reforestation with a native tree species (Canarium album) by farms. Our results showed that reforestation with C. album is less financially profitable than that with an exotic tree species (Acacia mangium) as the alternative land use option. The subsidy from the government is found insufficient to compensate for the income losses of farmers participating in reforestation with the native tree species. Reforestation with C. album could be more successful if participating farmers were equipped to be more technically efficient. Finally, our findings clearly showed that the security of forest land property rights and the provision of forest extension services are among the determinants of participation in, and the subsequent success of reforestation with C. album.

AB - The area of degraded forests in Vietnam is substantial, currently about 3.1 million ha of which about 1.7 million ha (55 %) were granted to individual farms for reforestation. However, the result of farmers' reforestation efforts is limited. We aimed to examine the financial return, technical efficiency, and factors determining reforestation with a native tree species (Canarium album) by farms. Our results showed that reforestation with C. album is less financially profitable than that with an exotic tree species (Acacia mangium) as the alternative land use option. The subsidy from the government is found insufficient to compensate for the income losses of farmers participating in reforestation with the native tree species. Reforestation with C. album could be more successful if participating farmers were equipped to be more technically efficient. Finally, our findings clearly showed that the security of forest land property rights and the provision of forest extension services are among the determinants of participation in, and the subsequent success of reforestation with C. album.

KW - Cost benefit analysis

KW - Determinants

KW - Technical efficiency

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84895830401&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10531-014-0635-4

DO - 10.1007/s10531-014-0635-4

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84895830401

VL - 23

SP - 811

EP - 830

JO - Biodiversity and conservation

JF - Biodiversity and conservation

SN - 0960-3115

IS - 4

ER -