Vietnam's Dak Lak, Lam Dong To Cut Robusta By 15%, 20%
HANOI - Vietnam's two largest coffee growing provinces - Dak Lak and Lam Dong - are solidifying plans to
reduce the amount of land under robusta coffee cultivation by 15% and 20%, respectively over the coming five years,
provincial officials told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.
Nguyen Muu Binh, director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Dak Lak province, said his province is
preparing to reduce by 15% - or 40,000 hectares - the amount of land given over to robusta cultivation.
The reduction will take place over the coming five years, he said, noting that Dak Lak now has over 260,000 hectares of land
under robusta cultivation.
"We have to reassess all coffee areas in the province to see where we can ask farmers to switch to other crops," the official
said.
In Lam Dong, a second major coffee-growing province, the government is making plans to reduce its coffee growing area by
20% between 2001 and 2005, said Nguyen Xuan Son, deputy director of the province's Agricultural & Rural Development
Department.
"Many farmers have developed coffee gardens on unsuitable land, so we will cut those areas (to reduce our total) production
area," Son said.
Lam Dong now has 140,000 hectares of coffee plants, he added.
In the past decade, Vietnam has jumped from being a minor coffee producer to the world's second largest. It grows mainly
robusta plants, which are easier to care for than higher grade arabica but fetch lower prices on the international market.
Partly because of Vietnam's massive increase in output, world prices are now at an all-time low. Hanoi is seeking ways to help
reverse that trend.
As well as withholding beans for the world market as part of a global retention plan, it's also making efforts to give land now
under robusta cultivation over to new arabica plants and convince farmers on marginal land - or where plants are too old to be
productive - to switch to new crops.
Both Son and Binh noted that a long-term plan is now needed to help coffee farmers hurt by the reduction in robusta cultivation
to refocus their production efforts on new cash crops.
As reported, such crops could include cotton, cocoa, and pepper.
Dow Jones - May 9, 2001.
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