The coffee price has dropped dramatically, now hovering around VND33 million per ton, a 10-year low. Phan Xuan Thang, deputy chair of the Vietnam Cocoa and Coffee Association (Vicofa), said that farmers cannot make profits with that price.

Dinh Thi Nhat, owner of a 4 hectare coffee farm in Krong Nang district of Dak Lak province, said she has been gradually felling coffee trees to make way for durian plants.

“I left newly harvested coffee beans at a merchant near my house. I don’t intend to sell coffee right now because the coffee price is terribly low,” Nhat said.

However, not all farmers can store coffee beans to sell later when the prices go up. The majority of farmers have to sell coffee right after harvesting because they need money to pay for fuel, fertilizers and pay debts.

The Central Highlands is entering the dry season. Farmers now need money to buy fuel to water blooming coffee plants. Some households are struggling to find water sources as the underground and surface water is running out. 

As the coffee price has been decreasing over many years, many farmers have not paid attention to the coffee re-cultivation program.

Dak Lak planned to re-cultivate 4,259 hectares of old coffee plants in 2018, but only half of the plan could be implemented.

According to Agribank Dak Lak, only VND1.151 trillion was disbursed in 2018 to fund coffee collection, processing and export. Only VND48.2 billion was disbursed for the re-cultivation program.

Nguyen Hac Hien from the Dak Lak Agriculture Department said the coffee output of the 2018-2019 crop was 4,400 tons higher than the previous crop, estimated at 464,000 tons. 

The average yield of re-cultivated coffee plantations was 2.7 tons per hectare, higher than the 300 kilogram per hectare of old plantations. However, the coffee growing area in Dak Lak still fell by 231 hectares to 204,577 hectares.

The provincial authorities of Dak Lak, the coffee metropolis of Vietnam, have been running a program aiming to help develop coffee farming in a sustainable way over the last few years.

One of the solutions to gain higher profits for Vietnam’s coffee value chain is the development of specialty coffee, with premium quality which can be several times more expensive than other products.

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