Interest in coffee farming wanes in Highlands

A farmer harvests coffee in Chư Pa District in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai. Coffee tree recultivation in the area has made notable progress, but obstacles still remain. – VNA/VNS Photo Sỹ Huynh

HÀ NỘI – Coffee tree recultivation in the Central Highlands provinces made notable progress, but a number of obstacles still demand more research and measures, agricultural experts said at a recent conference on the issue.

Huỳnh Quốc Thích, deputy director of the Đắk Lắk Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said farmers have become more cautious when choosing plants for cultivation because in past years, coffee prices dropped and drought affected crops.

However, Thích said, coffee would remain the main crop of the Central Highlands area, so local authorities should give more guidance to farmers and set up preferential policies for them.

Director of Đắk Lắk Agribank Trần Đình Chánh said the bank was willing to give loans to farmers for recultivation, but the bank attracted few farmers because they were no longer interested in planting coffee crops.

Statistics from Agribank in Central Highlands areas showed that they only had about  五, 九00 customers borrowing VNĐ 七 五 八 billion (US$ 三 三. 九 million) to recultivate more than  九, 四00ha of coffee, whereas their funds for coffee recultivation in the area reached about VNĐ 一 二- 一 五 trillion ($ 五 三 八- 六 七 二. 六 million).

Thích said that in order to make local farmers more interested in planting coffee, the State should have more supportive policies; for instance, giving them preferential interest rates and technical support.

To reduce obstacles, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) carried out several measures.

Under the ministry’s plan, provinces would create steering co妹妹ittees to provide guidance and technical training on recultivation to farmers. The co妹妹ittee would conduct research and set up a data base for the work.

Information on processes and procedures for borrowing money from banks would be disseminated widely to farmers, the ministry said.

Statistics from the MARD showed that by the end of last year, more than  六 一, 七00ha of coffee in the Central Highlands provinces had been recultivated. Most of the areas were in Lâm Đồng and Đắk Lắk provinces.

The Central Highlands provinces planned for about  一 二0,000ha of coffee to be cultivated by  二0 二0. The provinces completed half of the areas needing recultivation as outlined in the schedule. - VNS