Reduce area, increase replanting and locate coffee growing areas

SGGP Newspaper had an interview with Mr. Nguyen Nhu Cuong, Director of the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), about solutions to adapt to this new regulation.

Mr. Nguyen Nhu Cuong

* Reporter: Sir, after IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) for seafood, what is Europe's new policy for Vietnamese coffee?

- Mr. NGUYEN NHU CUONG: On May 16, 2023, the European Parliament passed the European Deforestation Regulation, also known as the Deforestation-Free Agricultural Regulation (EUDR). On June 29, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in coordination with the European Union Delegation to Vietnam, organized a conference on the production and supply of deforestation-free agricultural products according to European Union regulations.

According to this new regulation, some Vietnamese agricultural products such as wood and forest products, rubber, especially coffee, when exported to the European market will have to meet the requirement of 100% having GPS information to each garden, based on which to confirm the risk of deforestation using remote sensing monitoring systems.

* How do you evaluate the impact of this policy?

- Wood and wood products, coffee, and rubber are Vietnam's main export industries, which may be affected when this regulation is applied. In particular, EUDR is a challenge for Vietnam's coffee industry, but in my opinion, it is not a big one. We have the mechanisms, policies, and technical solutions to respond and adapt to this regulation.

On the contrary, I think this is also an opportunity for Vietnamese coffee to develop sustainably and adapt to the regulations of the world market. In terms of quality, Vietnamese coffee has met the requirements. In the coming time, not only coffee but also many other agricultural products will have to meet new requirements, especially regarding the environment (greening, forest protection) and sustainable development. In my opinion, countries that strongly develop coffee and are competitors of Vietnam may be affected more than Vietnam.

People in Cu M'gar district (Dak Lak province) harvest coffee. Photo: MAI CUONG

* So how do we prove that our coffee meets the criteria of "not causing deforestation"?

- According to regulations, Europe is only interested in areas planted after 2020. Currently, the area of ​​coffee that we plant after 2020 is very small, it can be said to be insignificant. In the future, when implementing the EUDR regulations, there will be no deforestation to grow coffee. The existing area, mainly we replant on the area that existed before 2020, even long before 2000, so basically it will not be affected.

* According to regulations, each coffee garden for export must be “located” to confirm that it is not grown on forest land. Can this be done, sir?

- Coffee trees have the advantage of being long-term plants, fixed in a specific area and location. Therefore, with current technology, just using a mobile phone can locate, we can completely trace the origin of the exported coffee batch.

* But, if we cannot expand the area, we will not have enough coffee to export?

- Currently, we are changing our farming mindset, shifting from focusing on area to focusing on productivity associated with quality, applying farming processes according to standards accepted by importers, such as RainForest standards, 4C...

From that policy, the coffee area has tended to decrease in recent years. In 2021, the whole country had more than 710,000 hectares, by the end of 2022 it had decreased by 110,000 hectares, to about 600,000 hectares. However, to ensure sufficient coffee output for export, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and localities will review and maintain the area in areas with advantages and good productivity; on that basis, apply technical farming solutions, reduce input costs to increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese coffee.

At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has issued a coffee replanting program (replacing old, low-quality varieties with better varieties). In the previous phase, the replanting plan was 120,000 hectares; by 2021 (the end of the phase), the replanting area will reach 170,000 hectares (out of a total of 710,000 hectares, exceeding the plan by 50,000 hectares). The plan for the 2022-2025 period is to continue replanting about 107,000 hectares. Thanks to the coffee replanting policy, we do not need to increase the area while still ensuring output and quality.

To ensure the legal origin of coffee, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will have guidelines for granting and managing growing area codes for each garden. This is the basis for determining and locating where that batch of coffee is, as well as being able to monitor the entire process and whether the production process is legal and up to standard?

Mr. Nguyen Nhu Cuong

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/giam-dien-tich-tang-tai-canh-va-dinh-vi-vung-trong-ca-phe-post696657.html