Yen Bai (VNA) – The northern mountainous province of Yen Bai aims todevelop comprehensive raw material and hi-tech processing facilities to boostthe development of its agro-forestry-fishery sector.

Accordingto the province’s industrial development plan to 2020, with a vision to 2025,the province will focus on the processing industry, developing trademarks andexpanding markets for local products.

Yen Bai isblessed with material resources for wood processing, with 430,000 hectares offorests, including nearly 300,000 hectares of production forests, producing morethan 450,000 cubic metres of wood and over 25 million bamboo trees. Between14,000 – 15,000 hectares of new forest are planted every year.

Currently,there are 104 wood processing facilities, with a combined annual capacityexceeding 176,000 cubic metres, and hundreds of other wood peeling and slicingfacilities, producing over 200,000 cubic metres per year. However, most of themuse low-tech production lines, resulting in low quality products.

To improvethis situation, the province wants investment in producing high-qualityfurniture for export, aiming to increase an annual capacity to 300,000 products.

The woodprocessing sector aims to earn 850 billion VND (37.4 million USD) by 2020, and doublethis by 2025.

Theprovince has also zoned off areas for industrial tree plantation to produce rawmaterial for wood processing.

Theprovince has more than 11,000 hectares of tea trees, mainly in Van Chan, TranYen, and Yen Binh district, producing 85,000 tonnes of tea per year. It alsohas over 40,000 hectares of cinnamon trees, producing over 7,400 tonnes of drycinnamon bark. Its 16,000 hectares of cassava also produce more than 300,000tonnes of cassava per year.

Van Yendistrict has huge potential for agri-forestry processing. The district has 30firms, cooperatives and over 70 households involving in processing cinnamon;six firms and cooperatives, and over 1,000 households processing cassava; and15 firms, cooperatives, and 70 private facilities processing timber.

Thedistrict aims to earn 900 billion VND (39.6 million USD) from industrialproduction by 2020.

Accordingto the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, there are 99 tea-processingfacilities with a combined daily capacity of 1,200 tonnes of fresh tea leaves,producing over 25,000 tonnes of dry tea per year.

The fourlocal cassava processing factories also produce 66,000 tonnes of flour peryear.

Theprovince has 13 cinnamon oil extracting factories with a total annual capacityof 955 tonnes, and 120 family facilities.

Yen Baiaims to develop its local facilities while calling for investment in hi-techprocessing factories to use its huge supplies of raw material and increase thequality of its products.

Theprovince also wants investment in processing camellia fruits and bamboo shoots,in an effort to raise the economic value of these products to 50 billion VND (2.2million USD) by 2020 and 200 billion VND (8.8 million USD) by 2025.

Severalcattle meat processing facilities will be built with a combined capacityexceeding 3,000 tonnes per year.-VNA