VN has good conditions for cocoa

Viet Nam has the potential to become a major cocoa producer and take advantage of the current market conditions of rising prices and falling production in major producing countries, experts say.

Experts said at a national cocoa conference held in Dong Nai yesterday that the country had the right climatic and soil conditions to grow good quality cocoa.

The conference heard that Viet Nam targets a cocoa export turnover of US$120 million per year by 2020.

By then it plans to have 80,000ha under cultivation with an annual yield of 108,000 tonnes, of which 86,000 tonnes will be exported.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, cocoa is being grown on 17,687ha this year, an increase of 160.5 per cent over 2009. The crop is planted mainly in Central Highland provinces of Dak Lak and Dak Nong and the Southern provinces of Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai.

Nguyen Van Hoa, deputy director of the ministry’s Cultivation Department, said, “Though the cocoa planting area is not large now, the Government is paying a lot of attention to developing the crop.”

He cited the chairman of the World Cocoa Federation (WCF), Bill Guyton, as saying during the meeting late last year that the country had great potential for increasing its exports.

Hoa said that since 2009, cocoa prices on the world market have increased at their highest rate over the last 29 years, while the leading exporters of crop like Ivory Coast and Nigeria have had their production capacity reduced.

The ministry expects the price of cocoa for the 2009-2010 crop to rise to $2,500 per tonne if demand and supply are balanced. However, if the Ivory Coast is hit by the El Nino weather phenomena, this could soar to as much as $5,000 per tonne.

In Viet Nam, last year’s purchase price for one tonne of dry cocoa beans from farmers was VND40 million to 60 million ($2,094 to $3,141).

The ministry plans that cocoa production is expanded in the south-central and south-eastern regions as well as the Central Highlands and the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta. All the four regions have plenty of fertile land, the conference heard.

Pham Minh Bau of the Dong Nai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said the province had 860ha of mature cocoa trees, which were planted independently or along with cashew trees or other industrial trees.

The department is preparing appropriate development plans for the beans in the province, Bau said. It has two cocoa collectors to purchase beans from farmers – the Nguyen Loc Agriculture Investment and Development Co. and the Trong Duc Co.

The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces of Tien Giang and Ben Tre have 68,000ha and 50,000ha respectively that can potentially be used for cocoa cultivation, the conference heard.

In Tien Giang, the tree will be planted alongside fruit trees, while in Ben Tre, it will be planted in coconut groves.

Cocoa is a shadow-preferring species.

The Central Highlands Institute for Agricultural and Forestry Technology said the region had the highest potential for expanding cocoa area cultivation, with the availability of both uncultivated land and coffee plantations. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam agriculture, Vietnam Cocoa