Mr. Doan Trieu Nhan is the Chairman of the Vietnam Coffee Cacao Association (VICOFA). He has been working in this area for over 40 years.
It cannot be denied that coffee has brought numerous positive effects to Vietnamese farmers – especially the ethnic minorities living in the mountainous area. Coffee is a perennial crop, so it encourages them to stay in one place, stop cutting down the forests and to protect the environment. Coffee gives them jobs and helps them to overcome poverty.
I’ve been asked this question indirectly several times before, at international conferences. In my opinion, it is not fair to blame Vietnam. During that time, other countries such as Brazil also increased their production. Here I’m not blaming Brazil, in fact, nobody is to blame. Every country has her own needs and policies. The crisis affects everybody. Now, we should concentrate on overcoming the negative effects and implementing suitable strategies to avoid future crises. The only special thing about Vietnam is that the increase in production was extremely rapid – too fast, too quick, within a very short time. This surprises the world and leads to questions and doubts.
There are three reasons. One: Vietnam has suitable conditions for growing coffee. Two: the “Doi Moi” economic policy – started 15-20 years ago by the government, allows private land usage. The high price of coffee, with the favoured climate, attracted the farmers. Three: Vietnamese farmers are intelligent. They learned how to grow coffee quickly and easily. So together, these three factors caused the rapid increase in the export quota. It can be seen that this increase comes naturally, and is fuelled by the farmers. The problem here is that the “coffee-growing heat” spread too far, too fast.
It is obvious that the market MUST recover. It is a natural process, a balance between supply and demand. In the recent months (September, October), the monthly letters from Dr. Néstor Osorio – Executive Director of ICO analysed the market, and stated that the worsts of the crisis was over. In my opinion, there have been signs of market recovery, but it’s not stable yet. We can see this moment as the end of the crisis.
Nothing. Since coffee is a perennial crop, the farmers don’t cut down the plants. So when the price goes up, with some care and maintenance, the farmers can easily “revive” their plants, and production would be back to the norm.
Yes. Vietnam has many mountainous areas, with basalt soil, rich in nutrients, suitable for planting Arabica coffee. We’re trying to adjust the land usage, so that in the end, 20% of our coffee would be Arabica and 80% would be Robusta. That is the ideal ratio we’re aiming for.
We’re heading towards sustainable development by raising the quality and encouraging the consumption. For certain areas, we encourage farmers to shift to other plants/trees. This would help to stabilise the coffee market currently as well as in the long run.
Yes, there are several. For the farmers, the main problem lay in the harvesting. The price of labour tripled in recent years and has forced some farmers to harvest with the strip method. There’s this paradox: while it is possible to invest in machines and techniques and things to improve the quality, but the consumers don’t want to subsidise these costs.
There isn’t a quota, but it can be predicted that the export for next year would be lower than the last two years. We would lose about 20% of the production due to the recent drought.
No... at least for the forseeable future. The specialty market is so diverse; it is difficult to meet the demands. For now, we’re just trying to produce high quality beans.
About 500,000 hectares. In order to improve the quality, in some areas farmers are encouraged to shift into other types of plants. By doing this, we would cut down about 10 – 15% of land for growing coffee.
It is estimated by the World Bank that there are about 600,000 full-time coffee farmers. And 200,000 part-time labourers, hired during the harvesting season. This means 400,000 families – 2 million people are looking towards coffee as their source of income. Of course, this number stands up to nothing when compared to the number of rice farmers: something like 90% of our farmers’ farm rice.
No. That’s the idea of Central American countries. They suggested using these beans for burning or compositing. It is estimated that by disposing of this low-grade coffee it would help to reduce 5% of the world’s amount of coffee. That looks good on paper. But don’t forget: 90% of Vietnam’s coffee is produced, and owned, by the farmers. How can you ask them to simply burn their coffee? Unless you buy their coffee and then burn it, it’s not economically-feasible.
Coca-Cola has offered this option, but we said NO. At least not yet. In Vietnam, the consumption first needs to be increased before we can consider this option.
No. At the moment, there are 2 factories producing instant coffee in Vietnam. There are many famous roasters in the world, and they roast coffee with their style, their way. Besides, roasted and ground coffee are hard to preserve, special equipment is needed.