Call to reverse fall in coffee yield

The country’s coffee and cocoa yields this year are expected to be down 20-30 per cent compared with the same period last year, according a report by the Viet Nam Coffee and Cocoa Association (VICOFA).

The report, which was released yesterday, May 12, at a conference to review coffee and cocoa cultivation and development of a sustainable industry organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said that despite the expansion of the cultivation area by 12,000ha compared to 2008, yields were down 900,000 tonnes.

Luong Van Tu, chairman of VICOFA, blamed bad weather during the blossoming period and the Ketsana and Mirinea storms for the poor yield.

Phan Huy Thong, head of the ministry’s Cultivation Department, said the current cultivation area for coffee was between 460,000ha and 500,000ha, capable of producing between 2 tonnes and 2.5 tonne per ha. That area would be maintained until 2015, he said. However, he said 86.4ha of 20 to 25-year-old coffee trees or 17.3 per cent of the total area would be replaced.

Thong said that despite the Government’s request that the coffee area be maintained to avoid the kind of crisis that took place in the 2001-02 season when the price dropped to just US$500 per tonne, farmers in the Central Highlands had expanded production.

Farmers in some places even cleared forestry land to grow coffee, he said.

Tu said that businesses should think twice before expanding their plantations because coffee trees needed large amounts of water, while the country was facing a serious drought.

A report by MARD showed that the current average coffee export price had dropped $100 to $1,390 per tonne compared to the same period last year. Revenue from coffee exports, which reached 465,000 tonnes in the first four months of this year, was $651 million, a decrease of 16 per cent in terms of quantity and nearly 23 per cent in terms of earnings.

Due to the falling price on the international market, the domestic market price has dropped by half to VND22 million ($1,157) per tonne compared to 2008-09, when it was at its peak.

To maintain prices, the Prime Minister approved VICOFA’s plan to buy 200,000 tonnes of coffee at an interest rate of 6 per cent, which lifted the price to VND24 million ($1,263) a tonne.

Thong said at the conference that the department had asked localities to review their coffee growing plans and to improve quality.

In addition, the Government would provide farmers with low interest loans to develop infrastructure for coffee cultivation and processing, Thong said.

Viet Nam News

Tags: Vietnam Coffee, Vietnam coffee yield