A club for coffee growers to share their cultivation knowledge and experiences has made its debut in the southern province of Dong Nai.

It has attracted over 100 coffee farmers from the Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak, Dac Nong, Lam Dong and Gia Lai, who will regularly discuss vital issues including agronomic seasonal concerns, weather forecast, pests, diseases, weed management as well as market prices and export conditions.

Bayer CropScience Vietnam will provide training and organise seminars featuring agronomists and experts on sustainable coffee production, innovative pesticide solutions to improve yield, quality and profits.

Pham Xuan Quang, a club's manager, said, "This is a useful forum for better coffee yields."

The English language daily Viet Nam News quoted Torsten Velden, Bayer CropScience’s country division as saying that as coffee is second only to rice in value of agricultural products exported from Vietnam, they would like to support this further.

“With the launch of the club, we aim to create a forum where key coffee growers in Vietnam can reflect and develop their professional aspirations in the field, and eventually help increase yield, quality, and profit in a sustainable manner," he said.

The opening of the club follows a programme called Bayer Much More Coffee, which was started in 2013 to improve agronomy methods and make efficient use of crop protection inputs.

The programme was developed with the Western Highlands Agriculture and Science Institute and has been tested and proven with the support of coffee farmers.

Coffee farmers taking part in the programme have seen their profits increase by at least 25 percent compared to normal practices, the company said.-VNA