Alternative Outlook

Analysts at Forestry Research Associates (FRA) claim that the people of Vietnam, and especially those employed in the rattan producing sector, will reap the benefits of a new WWF fund, sponsored by IKEA.

Forty interest groups have been established in the central provinces of Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam to preserve rattan as part of the five-year World Wildlife Fund (WWF) “Sustainable Rattan Project”.

After three years of operation, a 400sq.m rattan nursery garden, consisting of more than 100,000 seedlings, has been successfully developed…

As global stock markets fluctuate wildly, both individuals and institutions are increasingly looking to alternative investments to provide balance and stability to their portfolios. Given the rapid run-up in agricultural commodities and food prices recently, farmland investments are becoming an increasingly attractive asset class.

In the UK for example, over the last 10 years, agricultural land has appreciated roughly 13 per cent each year according to the Investment Property Databank (IPD). The United States and other Western countries have…

The Vietnamese government has been lauded by Alternative Asset Analysis (AAA) for the steps they have taken to encourage foreign private investment in the nation’s forestry sector.

The forestry department in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has implemented a number of measures in recent years to encourage investors to trust their money to the sustainable and environmentally sound private investment that is developing in the nation’s abundant and lucrative forests.

The head of planning for the forestry departmen…