To bring Khe Sanh coffee far and wide

Identifying coffee as a key crop to promote local socio -economic development, over the years, along with supporting farmers to apply technical advances in production and build clean agricultural areas, Huong Hoa district has actively coordinated with specialized agencies in certifying growing area codes, organic certification, and building the geographical indication (GI) “Khe Sanh Coffee”. These are the “passports” that help Khe Sanh coffee products conquer major markets.

The use of the geographical indication “Khe Sanh Coffee” is expected to be a passport to help Khe Sanh coffee go further - Photo: LA

Planted in Huong Hoa district nearly 100 years ago with many different types of coffee such as jackfruit coffee (Liberia), Robusta coffee, Arabica coffee, over time, Arabica coffee has proven to be a suitable plant for local climate and soil conditions. Coffee has long been the main source of income for a part of the population, the main agricultural product of the district and the province.

Up to now, a large specialized coffee growing area has been formed with an area of ​​over 4,600 hectares, of which the harvested area is over 3,900 hectares, mainly concentrated in the communes of Huong Phung, Huong Loc, Huong Tan, Tan Hop, Tan Lap, Huc, and Khe Sanh town. Arabica coffee trees have become a famous coffee variety not only domestically but also internationally with the Khe Sanh coffee brand.

With the unique features of Khe Sanh coffee, many brands of products of businesses originating from Khe Sanh coffee have appeared on the market such as: Arabica coffee Khe Sanh, Khe Sanh coffee, Khe Sanh Origin coffee... Many Khe Sanh coffee products have been recognized as provincial OCOP products.

In particular, in the years 2021 - 2024, Arabica coffee products of units in the district have won many high awards when participating in Vietnamese specialty coffee competitions. In fact, when searching for the phrase "top rated cafe Khe Sanh", after only 0.39 seconds, there were more than 19.3 million search results. Thus, Khe Sanh coffee has proven its true reputation in the domestic and foreign markets.

Vice Chairman of Huong Hoa District People's Committee Pham Trong Ho said that in order to ensure the growing area and meet the requirements of the export market, protect the reputation and quality of coffee products, in recent years, Huong Hoa District has actively supported farmers in applying scientific and technical advances in production, building clean agricultural areas; supporting enterprises in investing in industrial processing of products from industrial promotion sources, contributing to promoting the development of raw material areas, solving jobs for workers, and increasing the added value of products.

At the same time, coordinate with the Institute of Soil and Fertilizer, the Department of Intellectual Property, the Department of Science and Technology to carry out the task of "Registering protection, management and development of geographical indications for Khe Sanh coffee products of Quang Tri province". Accordingly, the products registered for geographical indications include: green coffee, roasted coffee beans, and ground coffee that meet the criteria of sensory and quality. They are grown, cared for, harvested, processed and preserved according to the correct techniques. The production areas of products bearing geographical indications include the communes of Huong Phung, Huc, Huong Tan, Ba Tang, Tan Lien, Tan Hop, Tan Lap, Huong Linh, Huong Son, Huong Loc, A Doi and Khe Sanh town.

According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Hai, Deputy Director of the Institute of Soil and Fertilizers, GI is a sign used to distinguish products originating from a specific region, locality, territory or country. To be protected by GI, products must have a reputation, quality or characteristics that are mainly due to geographical conditions. Because of this factor, GI protected products will easily stand out, and even be more valuable than similar products on the market.

On the other hand, the application of GI protection also helps prevent and combat the production and trading of counterfeit and poor quality goods, which destroy the value and reputation of products bearing GIs. Up to now, the whole country has had more than 130 GIs protected in Vietnam, including 13 foreign GIs. GIs help branded products not only conquer the domestic market with 100 million people but also act as a "passport" for Vietnamese branded products to access markets with high requirements such as the EU, Japan, etc. GIs are also an effective tool to protect specialties and key agricultural products of our country. This is also a driving force for farmers to promote production, improve product quality, and expand the scale of trade.

Mr. Pham Trong Ho informed that in order to continue performing the task, and at the same time to effectively manage and use geographical indications, Huong Hoa district is currently directing specialized agencies to consolidate Khe Sanh Coffee Association to gradually participate in management work right after being granted a geographical indication protection certificate by the Department of Intellectual Property.

Actively coordinate with the Department of Science and Technology, the Institute of Soil and Fertilizers, especially the Department of Intellectual Property to accelerate the process of assessing the application for registration of geographical indications of “Khe Sanh Coffee” during the 2024 coffee crop season to be able to record the right to use geographical indications for organizations and individuals. Thereby, bringing Khe Sanh coffee products with geographical indication protection to the market in 2025.

“Successful registration of geographical indications will help growers and product traders achieve high economic efficiency, raise awareness of growers following strict procedures, create valuable products; contribute to the development of tourism associated with the geographical area, promote local socio-economic development,” Mr. Ho affirmed.

Le An

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/de-ca-phe-khe-sanh-vuon-xa-190053.htm