Vietnam to harvest coffee in Laos
SINGAPORE - Vietnam's coffee output in 2011 may be boosted by up to 12,000 metric tons under a joint venture that allows the country to grow coffee on up to 6,000 hectares of land in southern Laos.
The Vietnam-Laos Coffee Joint Stock Co. was given the green light earlier this week to grow 1,000 hectares of coffee in the Lao province of Champassak, said an official from the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association Thursday.
Under the agreement made between the Vietnam National Coffee Corp., Dak Uy Coffee Company of Kon Tum province in Vietnam and the Champassak authorities, the joint venture company will rent 1,000 hectares of land to grow coffee, with the possibility of adding between 3,000-5,000 hectares at a later date.
However, analysts believe that more land will be cultivated for coffee under this agreement.
Each hectare of land will yield about two tons of coffee, growers said.
Vietnam, the world's largest grower of robusta coffee, currently has 500,000 hectares of coffee farmland and produced 930,000 tons of coffee in the 2006-2007 crop year. However, not all farmland is suitable for the crop and the government is encouraging farmers to stop growing coffee on such land. It aims to reduce coffee acreage in Vietnam by 10 percent to 450,000 hectares by 2010 to focus on quality.
The proposed coffee farms will provide jobs for thousands of Laos laborers and develop currently uncultivated land.
The Associated Press - July 19, 2007.
‘Coffee Paradise’ plan under serious discussion
An ambitious plan to turn a Central Highlands city into a “coffee paradise” received strong support at a conference on sustainable coffee development Wednesday.
The plan, initiated by Dang Le Nguyen Vu, board chairman of the Trung Nguyen Coffee Company, aims to develop Buon Me Thuot, the capital of the Central Highlands province of DakLak, in to a “holy land for coffee lovers worldwide.”
Vu, whose Trung Nguyen is Vietnam’s largest coffee company, said he wanted to turn Dak Lak’s coffee production into one of the country’s major tourist attraction.
He said the province is perfect because it contributes over 60 percent of Vietnam’s robusta beans export, which is the largest such export in the world.
Vu said that while coffee is arguably the most popular beverage in the world, none of the worlds coffee-producing nations own famous coffee brands. Developed third party countries are reaping all the value added profits from their brands that buy and resell the coffee from producers like Vietnam.
Vu’s opinion was met with agreement at the conference, but some said that the feasibility of maintaining and strengthening Vietnam’s prominence in the sector needed to be discussed in line with developing a program like Vu’s.
Dr. Le Ngoc Bau, deputy head of the Central Highlands Agro-Forestry Technological Institute, said Vietnam now houses nearly 500,000 hectares of coffee plantation and earned over US$1.1 billion from coffee export in 2006.
However, he added, the country’s producers faced both cultivation and processing difficulties.
Vietnam is currently known for its coffee productivity, possibly the highest in the world, with an average rate of some 1.7 tons per hectare, compared with 1 ton in other countries.
But the prices of one ton of Vietnam’s exported coffee beans are currently $50-70, $100 lower than similar items from other countries.
Dr. Gary Bogard from the United States said, “Trung Nguyen coffee products taste as delicious as many famous coffee brands,” but added that he could not find any information on coffee products when he searched Google with key words like “Vietnam” or “Dak Lak.”
“Meanwhile, typing ‘Blue Mountain,’ I could see several coffee products.”
He said coffee sector developers need to arrange publicity so that Vietnam comes up when people search for “coffee” on Google.
Feasibility
The “Coffee Paradise” plan is designed to be conducted for 10 years with two phases.
The first five years will focus on seeking Government support by applying specific policies to pave the way for the project, mapping out a sustainable development coffee growing zone, and establishing cooperation with other major coffee growing countries.
The next five years will concentrate on popularizing Buon Me Thuot’s products and making Vietnam famous for its coffee.
Project developers will construct a world coffee museum in Buon Me Thuot, a coffee research institute, and a resort complex.
Tourism activities will also have to be developed, such as programs allowing tourists to explore the mountains as well as take part in coffee production themselves.
The prospects of the future “Coffee Paradise” were met with approval at the conference.
“I will hold a meeting with the relevant agencies tomorrow to discuss and map out a fully work-out master plan for coffee sustainable development in Dak Lak to submit the Government for approval,” said chairman of the Dak Lak People’s Committee (local government), Nguyen Ngoc Cu.
By Quang Thuan - Thanh Nien - July 19, 2007.
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