Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development Collaboration for Agriculture & Rural Development Milestone Report Project VIE:032/05 Sustainable and profitable development of acacia plantations for sawlog production in Vietnam Milestone 12: 1. Extension Training Manual 2. Objective competency assessment of FSIV staff in deign, implementation and management of germplasm and silviculture techniques for sustainable sawlog production and application and interpretation of acacia sawlog financial models 3. Competency assessment of trained extension workers in sawlog growing technology package and establishment of on-farm demonstration sites 2 Introduction This milestone report integrates material previously provided in reports on project training courses with follow-up competency surveys carried out in the first quarter of 2009. 1. Extension Training Manual The Extension Training Manual is a set of Powerpoint slides that has previously been provided in the reports on the Second and Third Extension training courses. It is attached again with this report. These slides form a concise summary of the technology package presented in the extension courses. 2. Objective competency assessment of FSIV staff in deign, implementation and management of germplasm and silviculture techniques for sustainable sawlog production and application and interpretation of acacia sawlog financial models Fourteen young scientific staff from FSIV and various provincial forest authorities received training in a course held in HCM City and nearby field sites in June 2007. A detailed report on this course was provided to CARD Office in September 2007. At the time of the course, trainees completed a simple competency assessment before and after doing the course. This assessment indicated marked improvement in understanding key course concepts. It was included in the course report. A follow-up competency survey was conducted in February 2009, 20 months after the course. All the course attendees were interviewed by telephone by Ms Duong Thanh Hoa of FSIV. The results of the telephone survey are summarised in Table 1 below. The summary results indicate that: • Participants had retained course materials and equipment provided • All participants had kept an understanding of key course knowledge elements • About 2/3 of participants had applied knowledge and skills learned in the course in their professional work in plantation forestry. 3 Table 1. Summary of follow-up competency assessment conducted in February 2009 for participants in technical training course, CARD Project 032/05 VIE at Ho Chi Minh city in June 2007 Bảng tổng hợp kết quả đánh giá lớp học thuộc dự án CARD 032/05VIE ” tại TP Hồ Chí Minh (Tháng 6/2007) Number of answers /Số câu trả lời No. STT Questions/câu hỏi Yes Có No Không 1 Does your current job involved working in (Nghề nghiệp của bạn có liên quan đến: Tree breeding (Chọn tạo giống) 8 6 Seed and seedling supply (Thu hái và cung cấp hạt) 9 5 Tree nursery operations (Vườn ươm) 6 8 Plantation establishment and management (Xây dựng và quản lý rừng trồng) 9 5 Other relevant employment (Các công việc khác) 2 Have you kept the training materials provided during the course (Bạn có giữ tài liệu được cung cấp trong suốt khoá học hay không?) 14 0 3 Have you referred to the training materials provided during the course (Bạn có tham khảo tài liệu được cung cấp trong suốt khoá học hay không?) 14 0 4 Did you receive any equipment (pruning saws or shears) when you attended the course (Bạn có được nhận các dụng cụ (kéo cắt cành, cưa) khi bạn tham gia vào khoá học không) 14 0 5 Have you used any equipment (pruning saws or shears) since attending the course (Bạn có sử dụng các dụng cụ (kéo cắt cành, cưa) từ khi tham gia vào lớp học không) 14 0 6 Have you used knowledge learned at the course for: (Bạn có sử dụng những kiến thức thu được từ khoá học để:) - tree breeding operations (các hoạt động chọn tạo giống) 8 6 - choosing planting material for acacia plantations, or advising other people on choice of seed or other planting material (clones) (lựa chọn vật liệu cho trồng rừng hoặc khuyên người khác lựa chọn hạt hoặc các vật liệu khác?) 7 7 - nursery management and seedling production (quản lý vườn ươm và thu hái hạt) 9 5 4 - plantation establishment (site selection and preparation, initial plantation spacing, choice of fertilizer (thiết kế trồng rừng: chọn địa điểm, chuẩn bị, mật độ ban đầu, phân bón) 9 5 - singling young acacia plantations to produce single- stemmed trees, 3-6 months after planting (tỉa bỏ chỉ để lại một thân sau 3 – 6 tháng trồng) 9 5 - form-pruning young acacia plantations to remove competing leaders and straighten lower stems, 9-12 months after planting (tỉa bỏ những cây cạnh tranh, hình dáng thân xấu sau 9 -12 tháng) 9 5 - lift-pruning young acacia plantations to produce knot- free clearwood (tỉa cành để loại bỏ mắt chết) 9 5 - thinning acacia plantations to enable faster diameter growth of retained trees (tỉa thưa rừng trồng để đường kính của những cây được giữ lại sinh trưởng tốt?) 9 5 - marketing acacia timber for sawlogs (tiếp thị gỗ keo cho cung cấp gỗ xẻ?) 9 5 Numbers of participants: 14 Số người tham gia trả lời câu hỏi: 14 5 3. Competency assessment of trained extension workers in sawlog growing technology package and establishment of on-farm demonstration sites Three training courses targeting extension workers were carried out as follows: 1. Thu Thinh Hue Province, March 2008 2. Quang Binh Province, July 2008 3. Hanoi Province, March 2009 As was done for the scientist training course, simple pre-and post-course competency assessments were carried out at the time of the second and third courses. In both courses examination of the results indicated that participants had substantially improved their knowledge and skills relevant to the course subject area. These pre- and post-course assessments for the second and third extension courses have been included in the reports on each extension course, which have already been provided to the CARD Office. The first extension course targeted primarily technicians working for forest enterprises in Thua Thien Hue and neighbouring provinces. A follow-up competency assessment was done for the participants in this course in March 2009. Those course attendees who could be located were interviewed by telephone by Ms Duong Thanh Hoa of FSIV. A total of 13 of the 25 attendees were contacted for this assessment. Summary results are shown in Table 2. The summary results indicate that: • Participants had retained course materials and equipment provided • All participants had kept an understanding of key course knowledge elements • Most of the participants had applied one or more areas of knowledge and skills learned in the course in their professional work in plantation forestry • The areas of acacia plantations treated with the recommended techniques are relatively small (less than 4 ha in total). A larger area may have been treated overall considering that 12 of the participants were not contacted. 6 Table 2. Summary of follow-up competency assessment conducted in March 2009 for participants in first Project extension training course held in Thua Thien Hue province (March 2008) Answers No. STT Questions/câu hỏi Yes Có No Không Note (ghi chú) 1 Does your current job involved working in (Nghề nghiệp của bạn có liên quan đến: Tree breeding (Chọn tạo giống) 10 3 Seed and seedling supply (Thu hái và cung cấp hạt) 7 6 Tree nursery operations (Vườn ươm) 10 3 Plantation establishment and management (Xây dựng và quản lý rừng trồng) 13 0 Other relevant employment (Các công việc khác) 7 6 2 Have you kept the training materials provided during the course (Bạn có giữ tài liệu được cung cấp trong suốt khoá học hay không?) 13 0 3 Have you referred to the training materials provided during the course (Bạn có tham khảo tài liệu được cung cấp trong suốt khoá học hay không?) 13 0 4 Did you receive any equipment (pruning saws or shears) when you attended the course (Bạn có được nhận các dụng cụ (kéo cắt cành, cưa) khi bạn tham gia vào khoá học không) 13 0 5 Have you used any equipment (pruning saws or shears) since attending the course (Bạn có sử dụng các dụng cụ (kéo cắt cành, cưa) từ khi tham gia vào lớp học không) 13 0 6 Have you used knowledge learned at the course for: (Bạn có sử dụng những kiến thức thu được từ khoá học để:) - tree breeding operations (các hoạt động chọn tạo giống) 11 2 - choosing planting material for acacia plantations, or advising other people on choice of seed or other planting material (clones) (lựa chọn vật liệu cho trồng rừng hoặc khuyên người khác lựa chọn hạt hoặc các vật liệu khác?) 13 0 - nursery management and seedling production (quản lý vườn ươm và thu hái hạt) 8 5 - plantation establishment (site selection and preparation, initial plantation spacing, choice of fertilizer (thiết kế trồng rừng: chọn địa điểm, chuẩn bị, mật độ ban đầu, phân bón) 12 1 - singling young acacia plantations to produce single-stemmed 11 2 7 trees, 3-6 months after planting (tỉa bỏ chỉ để lại một thân sau 3 – 6 tháng trồng) - form-pruning young acacia plantations to remove competing leaders and straighten lower stems, 9-12 months after planting (tỉa bỏ những cây cạnh tranh, hình dáng thân xấu sau 9 -12 tháng) 9 4 - lift-pruning young acacia plantations to produce knot-free clearwood (tỉa cành để loại bỏ mắt chết) 11 2 - thinning acacia plantations to enable faster diameter growth of retained trees (tỉa thưa rừng trồng để đường kính của những cây được giữ lại sinh trưởng tốt?) 11 2 - marketing acacia timber for sawlogs (tiếp thị gỗ xẻ?) 0 13 7 How many hectares of acacia plantation have you (Có bao nhiêu diện tích keo lai đã được bạn) - Singled 3.8 ha - Form pruned 3.7 ha - Lift pruned 3.8 ha - Thinned 3.9 ha . Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development Collaboration for Agriculture & Rural Development Milestone Report Project VIE:032/05 Sustainable and profitable development. implementation and management of germplasm and silviculture techniques for sustainable sawlog production and application and interpretation of acacia sawlog financial models 3. Competency assessment of. 5 - singling young acacia plantations to produce single- stemmed trees, 3-6 months after planting (tỉa bỏ chỉ để lại một thân sau 3 – 6 tháng trồng) 9 5 - form-pruning young acacia plantations