Locals in Dak Lak province enjoy a good crop of coffee beans. (Credit: NDO)

According to the Steering Committee for the Central Highlands, bringing into play its advantages in terms of land, climate and production experiences, the Central Highlands has developed coffee farming into a specialised cultivation area, contributing to helping Vietnam become the second largest producer and exporter of coffee in the world, leading the production and export of robusta coffee.

Currently, the region has a total coffee producing area of over 582,000 ha, of which Dak Lak province has the largest area with over 202,000 ha. The Central Highlands provinces have implemented intensive farming methods, applying technical advances in planting, tending, fertilising and watering coffee.

Thanks to such efforts, the region’s coffee yield is at around 2.35-2.5 tonnes of coffee beans per ha or more, reaching an annual output of approximately 1.3 million tonnes of coffee beans. According to experts, the region is considered a specialised cultivation area with the highest coffee yield in the world.

In recent years, local coffee farmers have been investing in replacing aging and ineffective coffee farms with new, economically viable, coffee varieties, such as TR4, TR5, TR6, TR7, TR8, TR9, TR11, TR12, and TR13. At the same time, they plant shade trees and windbreakers in coffee gardens to combat climate change.

A Vietnamese good agricultural practice (VietGap) on coffee trees is also being employed, with tens of thousands of farmers participating in sustainable coffee production. Coffee production programmes are certified according to the code of UTZ Certified, 4C, and Rainforest Alliance, to increase the value of coffee production.

In addition to coffee trees, the provinces of the Central Highlands also have long-life industrial crops of high economic value, such as pepper trees with a total area of over 71,000 ha, rubber trees with nearly 252,000 ha, and cashew nuts with 74,276 ha. According to the Steering Committee of the Central Highlands, many households producing coffee and pepper have developed a good production model, earning VND500 million to VND1 billion per ha.

However, agricultural development across the region in general, as well as the development of long-term industrial crops in particular, has not yet met the regions potential. Agriculture is still fragmented, with low quality and value, while major agricultural products such as coffee, pepper, rubber, and cashew nut are mainly raw exports, leading to a low added value and incomes for local farmers.

Tay Nguyen has great potential for development of many kinds of industrial crops. (Credit: NDO)

Apart from objective reasons, such as climate change which drastically increases abnormal drought and flooding that cause severely negative impacts on agricultural production, the subjective reasons are that policy mechanisms have not been properly adjusted on a par with production practices, especially the policies on land, investment and credit for agricultural development.

In addition, the prevalent situation is that management and use of agricultural land is not under planning, especially the planning for growing coffee and pepper. According to the plan approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), by 2020 coffee cultivation area in the region was targeted at about 530,000 ha, but now it has since increased to 582,149 ha.

At a recent workshop on agricultural development in the Central Highlands, held in Buon Ma Thuot city, Politburo Member To Lam, who is also Minister of Public Security cum Head of the Steering Committee for the Central Highlands, has instructed the MARD, the Ministries of Planning and Investment and Science and Technology, relevant banks and the People's Committees of provinces in the region, to develop favourable support programmes and assistance mechanisms, as soon as possible, to build a number of agricultural production and business models linked with hi-tech application.

Businesses have been asked to play a key role in bringing the region’s key commodities (coffee, pepper, cocoa, cashew nuts, etc…) into the local and global value chain. The MARD and the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as well as other relevant ministries and agencies, are responsible for designing agricultural research and development programmes for the Central Highlands, with synchronous aspects on management, mechanism, market and technology.

In addition, the planning of planting areas and agricultural production areas should be associated with farmer and market organisations, connecting them with modern technology and creating organic agriculture for the Central Highlands.

The Central Highlands localities should pay attention to the management of agricultural land use in accordance with master plans to avoid any disruption to the planning of key crops, in order to contribute to the sustainable development of the Central Highlands.

Tay Nguyen consists of five provinces, namely Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dak Nong and Lam Dong, with 2 million ha of agricultural land (including over 850,000 ha for annual crops and over 1.15 million ha of long-term cultivated land). The regional basalt area accounts for 74.25% of the country’s total. This type of soil is suitable for many kinds of industrial crops, such as coffee, rubber, cashew, and pepper.