VietNamNet Bridge – The nation’s coffee farming sector will have to replant 140,000 to 160,000 hectares of aging trees in the coming years, said the Department of Crop Production under Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

A farmer (R) takes out leaves from fresh coffee fruits in this file photo. The nation’s coffee farming sector will have to replant 140,000 to 160,000 hectares of aging trees in the coming years.

Coffee farmers have been reluctant to replant their trees due to a low level of survival. A mere 14% of the replanted acreage can grow well and the rest die due to nematode infections. The seedlings on which farmers have long relied are not well resistant to nematodes.

The Western Highlands Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute (WASI) has therefore cooperated with Nestle Vietnam to give new coffee seedlings to farmers to replant their aging farms, heard a seminar in Daklak Province on November 29.

The coffee farming sector needs new seedlings that are highly resistant to diseases. Nestle Vietnam has helped WASI import a new coffee variety and purchase tissue implant multiplication equipment.

The company will subsidize half of the prices of seedlings to support farmers, said Pham Phu Ngoc, head of the representative office of Nestle Vietnam in the Central Highlands.

Nestle Vietnam has assisted 21,000 farmers through a sustainable coffee farming project under the Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C).

The firm now buys around 25% of coffee output in Vietnam for local processing and export to foreign markets.

According to the agriculture ministry, Vietnam exported 1.6 million tons of coffee worth nearly US$3 billion in January-November, up 36% in volume and 24% in value over the same period last year.

The average export price of coffee in the first ten months of this year was US$1,817 per ton, down 10% year-on-year.

SGT