Prospects from high quality coffee production

08:27, 11/01/2024

As the first high-quality coffee production unit in Lak district, Thanh Cong Cooperative (Dak Phoi commune) is opening up a promising direction in the local coffee growing area.

Open your own "path"

Established in 2020, with 28 members, with a cultivated land area of over 30 hectares, overcoming initial difficulties, Thanh Cong Cooperative (abbreviated as the Cooperative) has constantly strived with its own "path", contributing to bringing benefits to members and local people.

The cooperative was established with the aim of creating clean raw material areas and guiding people in safe farming. Therefore, members participating in the association will be guided to apply new technical measures in the cultivation process. At the same time, the cooperative also cooperates with fertilizer and pesticide companies to support prices and control the amount of agricultural materials that people use in the cultivation process.

Along with creating a clean raw material area, in 2021, the Cooperative built facilities to research and produce high-quality coffee, from which it purchased and selected 100% ripe coffee from associated households to produce according to high-quality processes, including two types: natural and honey.

High quality coffee is dried in the greenhouse of Thanh Cong Cooperative.

Mr. Pham The Thanh, Deputy Director of the Cooperative, said: “Through research, I realized that the market is currently very “thirsty” for high-quality coffee. Meanwhile, if we pick green coffee, we will lose 15-20% of the output, and the price is also 20,000-25,000 VND/kg lower than ripe coffee. Therefore, I want to learn, research, and produce this type of coffee to gradually change the production mindset and increase income for people.”

Recently, Mr. Thanh has piloted a mold-infused coffee product following a process transferred by an agricultural officer in Hanoi. Accordingly, this type of mold is imported from Japan. He will use clean, ripe coffee, grind it, leave the silk shell, and incubate it for a certain period of time. Then, dry it at room temperature on a drying rack to create the finished product. This mold-infused coffee product is successful and is expected to be sold on the market at a price of about 300,000 VND/kg, many times higher than regular coffee.

Initial results

It is expected that in the 2023-2024 crop year, the cooperative will sell 7 tons of high-quality coffee beans, at a price of over 90,000 VND/kg. Currently, many high-quality coffee purchasing facilities in Lam Dong province and Buon Ma Thuot city have placed large orders, but the cooperative cannot meet the demand. After 4 years, people have joined together to produce high-quality clean coffee, which has brought about clear results.

A typical example is the family of Mr. Y Nghinh Cil (Lieng Keh hamlet) who has an area of over 1 hectare growing coffee mixed with durian. Previously, due to improper care, the coffee garden was stunted and often sick, causing him to only harvest 2 tons of beans each year. After joining the cooperative, an agricultural engineer came to "show him how to do it" from pruning branches, watering... and visited other models to update his knowledge of coffee tree care. Thanks to that, his family's high-quality coffee bean output reached nearly 3 tons/year, sold at nearly 90,000 VND/kg, earning over 250 million VND.

Thanh Cong Cooperative staff instruct members on safe coffee cultivation techniques.

Or Mr. Y Ngoan Buon Dap's household (Pai Ar village) also has more than 1 hectare of coffee, but for a long time, they often picked green coffee to sell, so the productivity and quality were not guaranteed. After joining the cooperative and being informed about the benefits of producing high-quality coffee, he began to change his production mindset, picking coffee that was 80% or more ripe to supply to the cooperative. Thanks to that, this season, his family sold more than 3.5 tons of coffee beans, at a price of 90,000 VND/kg, earning a profit nearly 30% higher than previous seasons.

From the effectiveness of the association in producing high-quality coffee, local people have begun to be interested in learning and following the cooperative model. Through cooperative meetings and advocacy and propaganda sessions, people inside and outside the association have had a high consensus.

Deputy Director of the Cooperative Pham The Thanh added that when people agree to produce, the Cooperative will be ready to transfer technology and consume products for them. Currently, the Dak Lak Provincial Forestry Science and Technology Association is implementing a project to build a pilot model of community forest management and develop the livelihoods of ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands in the locality. The project has conducted research and proposed activities to improve livelihoods and increase income from the forest ecosystem such as: agroforestry production, ecotourism, etc.

However, the cooperative is facing difficulties because it does not have a color sorting machine, which costs time and labor costs to select the fruit, and the scale of the production facility is still small. Therefore, the cooperative is looking forward to receiving support in borrowing capital to equip machinery, build drying yards, and expand the production facility. This will help support members and local people more effectively with this high-quality coffee production model.

Khanh Huyen

Source