Coffee growers in the Central Highlands are replacing their old treeswith new plants in efforts to increase the yield and quality of coffeebeans.
As one of the world’s top coffee exporters,Vietnam now has more than 525,000 hectares under coffee trees, 90percent of which are in the Central Highlands. However, statistics bythe Vietnam Coffee-Cacao Association showed that in the next 3-5 years,half of the coffee trees in the country will reach 20 years old, whichmean they are too old to bear profitable yields. In that context, theTay Nguyen Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute has been providingfarmers with young plants and seeds of new strains.
According to the institute’s director Le Ngoc Bau, scientists from theinstitute have produced several varieties of Robusta coffee, which havereceived permission from the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment to be grown on large scale. The new varieties produce highyield with bigger beans and are highly resistant to diseases.
Besides supplying between 500,000 to 1 million young plants and 20tonnes of seeds, as well as more than 200,000 grafts each year toreplace old trees, the institute has also provided coffee farmers withadvanced cultivation techniques and taught them how to intercrop toincrease income.
Bau proposed that the Government,ministries and sectors should increase investment in scientific andtechnological research on the cultivation of coffee tree, taking intoaccount the plant’s important role in the national economy.
He said it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive research programmeon the coffee industry’s entire production process to help increase theadded value of this export staple and help the sector achievesustainable growth.
In the 2011-2012 crop, the country earned nearly 3.4 billion USD from exporting around 1.6 million tonnes of coffee bean.-VNA
As one of the world’s top coffee exporters,Vietnam now has more than 525,000 hectares under coffee trees, 90percent of which are in the Central Highlands. However, statistics bythe Vietnam Coffee-Cacao Association showed that in the next 3-5 years,half of the coffee trees in the country will reach 20 years old, whichmean they are too old to bear profitable yields. In that context, theTay Nguyen Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute has been providingfarmers with young plants and seeds of new strains.
According to the institute’s director Le Ngoc Bau, scientists from theinstitute have produced several varieties of Robusta coffee, which havereceived permission from the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment to be grown on large scale. The new varieties produce highyield with bigger beans and are highly resistant to diseases.
Besides supplying between 500,000 to 1 million young plants and 20tonnes of seeds, as well as more than 200,000 grafts each year toreplace old trees, the institute has also provided coffee farmers withadvanced cultivation techniques and taught them how to intercrop toincrease income.
Bau proposed that the Government,ministries and sectors should increase investment in scientific andtechnological research on the cultivation of coffee tree, taking intoaccount the plant’s important role in the national economy.
He said it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive research programmeon the coffee industry’s entire production process to help increase theadded value of this export staple and help the sector achievesustainable growth.
In the 2011-2012 crop, the country earned nearly 3.4 billion USD from exporting around 1.6 million tonnes of coffee bean.-VNA
