Agricultural officials, experts, farmers, and business executives on
September 30 discussed the state of the cocoa industry and the
opportunities to develop it in Binh Phuoc and the south-eastern region
at a seminar held in the province.
Organised by the “Cooperation
for enhancing sustainable cocoa development” project (also known as PPP
Cocoa) in collaboration with the Binh Phuoc Department of Agriculture
and Rural Development, it sought to help agriculture managers and policy
makers come up with a more efficient production paradigm to deliver
benefits to farmers and the agricultural sector in the region.
Le
Thi Phi Van, a researcher at the Institute of Policy and Strategy for
Agriculture and Rural Development, said a study done in Binh Phuoc in
July underlined the great potential of the cocoa industry.
“The
climatic conditions and soil and the very large area under cashew
(around 140,000 ha) are ideal for developing an intensive cocoa-cashew
farming model there,” she said.
Nguyen Van Hoa, Deputy Director
of the Department of Crop Production, said the cocoa-cashew model was,
if enough water was available, a suitable intercropping solution for
cashew growing areas, helping increase the productivity and quality of
both crops.
There were many successful instances of this model in
the province which have delivered more efficiency for farmers and
increased the value of each unit of land, he said.
Le Xuan Phien,
a farmer in Thong Nhat commune in the province’s Bu Dang district, said
that he planted 600 cocoa trees on one hectare of cashew and coffee,
annually harvesting around one tonne of dry cocoa beans, two tonnes of
cashew, and 1.2 tonnes of coffee to earn more than 100 million VND
(4,760 USD). “Since we intensively farm cocoa-cashew, my family’s income
has increased by 40-60 million VND (1,900-2,850 USD) a year.”
Nguyen
Vinh Thanh, director of the cocoa sector at Cargill Vietnam, said,
“When planting 500 additional cocoa trees on one hectare of cashew and
intensively farm both, farmers can double their income to around 80
million VND (3,800 USD) per hectare at current prices.”
In the
domestic market, fermented cocoa bean prices have been stable since the
beginning of the year at 55,000-59,000 VND (2.6-2.8 USD) per kilogram
(excluding the premium), a significant increase from the 45,000 VND (2.1
USD) prevailing at the end of last year.
When farmers apply proper farming practices and suitable fertilisers, cocoa trees offer high yields and profits.
Binh
Phuoc has been implementing policies to enable farmers to grow cocoa in
a sustainable manner, and targets increasing the area under intensive
cocoa-cashew farming to 20-30 thousand hectares by 2020.
Phan
Van Don, Deputy Director of the Binh Phuoc Department of Agriculture and
Rural Development, said, “The model of intensive cocoa-cashew farming
in the province has brought about greater efficiencies and saving of
lands compared to monoculture crops, contributing to a shift towards
crop diversification and the province’s poverty reduction programme.”
With
its potential and advantages, the province was expected to become one
of the major cocoa-growing regions in Vietnam, contributing greatly to
socio-economic development at the local and national levels, he said.
The
cocoa sector in the province also receives great support from the
private sector. The PPP Cocoa project, for instance, aligns the public
efforts with those by Mars, Cargill, Grand Place Puratos, the Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Dutch Government, Rabobank
Foundation, and IDH – The Sustainable Trade Initiative.
PPP
Cocoa aims to achieve sustainable development in Vietnam by supporting
the development of quality seeds, technical transfer through training
and creation of model fields, lending fertilisers, and making a
commitment to buy cocoa.
The cocoa industry sees new
opportunities thanks to the growing global demand, which is expected to
cause a shortage of one million tonnes in 2020, according to experts.
The demand is rising significantly in populous emerging countries like
China, India, and Indonesia, which are also Vietnam’s markets.
Vietnam has suitable climate and soil for the crop, and its cocoa products are considered among the world’s best.-VNA