Record high coffee prices: Risk of growing and chopping chorus

Chopping cashews, jackfruit, and rambutan to grow coffee

The Central Highlands has about 639,000 hectares of coffee. Coffee prices continuously “dance” in an increasing direction. Currently, coffee has exceeded the threshold of over 120,000 VND/kg of beans, a record high. This price makes farmers everywhere compete to plant.

These days, going around Ia Dêr commune (Ia Grai district, Gia Lai province), we encountered people busy planting new coffee. Coffee growing land includes replanted land, bare land, and even “killed” cashew trees for planting.

Half a month ago, Mr. Ksor Tai (Breng 1 village) and two other households rented a bulldozer to bulldoze a 6-sao cashew garden to grow coffee. Currently, households have dug holes, put in fertilizer, and are waiting for rain to plant seeds. On this area, traces proving the existence of the cashew orchard are stumps and roots, collected by households, waiting to be used as firewood. “My relatives have been growing this garden for decades. Recently, my relatives gave me permission so I started growing coffee trees. I personally planted 2 acres. Hopefully when the tree bears fruit, coffee prices will still be high so we can benefit,” Mr. Ksor Cai said.

Going down to Quang Tien commune (Cu Mgar district, Dak Lak province), we encountered Mr. Mai Van Vuong and his wife diligently cleaning 1 hectare of passion fruit to wait for the rain to plant coffee. On this area, 10 years ago, he planted coffee and pepper. However, the price was low and the tree was sick, so 3 years ago, the family cut it down to grow passion fruit. The price of passion fruit is high, I thought I would make a fortune, but when I harvested it, the price dropped and my family lost money. Now seeing the high price of coffee, the family destroyed the lemons to replant coffee. “4 years later, this 1 hectare will be harvested. I don’t know if coffee prices will decrease. If they do, it will fail. I hope coffee prices continue to stay at this high level so that my family can have a source of income. Over the past 10 years, when seeing a valuable tree, my family has planted it, but has never enjoyed sustainable sweet fruit,” Mr. Mai Van Vuong said.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Tan, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ia Krai commune, Ia Grai district, Gia Lai province, said that due to high coffee prices, there is a tendency for households to plant new coffee on previously abandoned land. In addition, some crop areas are ineffective, being planted with a mixture of rambutan and jackfruit trees, and people are also cutting them down to grow coffee. Similarly, Mr. Le Quang Vang, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ia Blu commune, Chu Puh district, Gia Lai province, said that in the commune, people are planting new coffee. Besides replanting land, people also grow coffee on dead pepper areas.

Need sustainable production

In the Central Highlands, besides coffee, the remaining main crops are pepper, rubber, cashew, and passion fruit. A situation that has been going on for many years is that production follows price. At one time, the movement to grow rubber, coffee, pepper, and passion fruit broke out loudly, disrupting crop planning. The consequence is price loss, farmers have to cut them down. People are immersed in a cycle of tight planting. With the current race to grow coffee, it is making localities and experts worried.

According to Mr. Le Quang Vang, with land potential, the locality is suitable for growing agricultural crops. However, in previous years, people’s production was not sustainable. That’s why it happens that coffee is cut down to grow pepper. When the pepper dies, the coffee is replanted, but the coffee is still not productive. To avoid tight planting when coffee prices are high, the commune has advised farmers not to produce according to prices and the market; need to produce in a sustainable way. Coffee is only grown on suitable areas with enough irrigation water and shade trees.

Mr. Dinh Van Dung, Secretary of Chu Prong District Party Committee, Gia Lai province, said that the district has over 14,000 hectares of coffee. With 1 hectare of coffee, at the current price, farmers will profit about 300 million VND. During the current time of record high coffee prices, this is a “golden opportunity” for coffee gardens that are bearing fruit. Therefore, the district has advised people to focus on taking care of existing coffee gardens to improve productivity; Do not replant gardens that are not yet ripe to avoid missing the opportunity to benefit while prices are still high. The district also advises people not to massively plant new trees on unsuitable areas but to follow the planning.

According to Mr. Vu Duc Con, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak province, the whole province has more than 210,000 hectares of coffee. In 2023, coffee output in the whole province will decrease by 13,000 tons compared to the 2022 crop year. The reason is that in previous years, this commodity had low prices, so farmers replaced other high-value crops, leading to a decrease in acreage. . Currently, when coffee prices are high, people are expanding the area of ​​this industrial crop.

Dr. Phan Viet Ha, Deputy Director of the Central Highlands Institute of Agriculture and Forestry Science (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), said that although the agricultural sector has planned growing areas, people still follow seasonal prices and development. The area of ​​crops grown is unreasonable, leading to unstable output and no sustainable consumption market.

According to Dr. Phan Viet Ha, currently, the authorities need to develop plans for sustainable growing areas. In particular, it is necessary to invite large local investors and people to build production chains, creating sustainable consumption markets for agricultural products in general and coffee in particular. For people, it is necessary to organize intercropping of valuable crops in the garden to supplement each other’s profits and risks. At the same time, it is necessary to improve thinking in production and link with cooperatives and businesses so that the products made have a sustainable foothold.

Mr. Vu Duc Con, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak province said: “The agricultural industry advises people not to develop coffee areas on unsuitable lands. In particular, it is strictly prohibited to expand coffee areas on forest lands. The reason is that currently, some countries’ markets ban the import of products that are considered the main factor promoting deforestation, including coffee. Therefore, coffee products grown after 2020 that originate from forests will not be purchased, affecting the interests and economy of the people.”

HUU PHUC – MAI CUONG