On 9th November, the Vietnam Coffee Coordination Board (VCCB), the Department of Crop Production (DCP) and the Global Coffee Platform, held a workshop for over 80 representatives to assess the status of coffee varieties in adapting to climate change, the nursery system and inter-cropping models.
While the workshop aimed at presenting the results of the guidelines for coffee varieties structure in adaptation to climate change, it also gave an overview of agro-forestry models in the Central Highlands, proposing the yearly plan of varieties production for inter-cropping.
Some of the key findings from the assessment showed that varieties on quality management is currently not the best, especially in small-scale nurseries. Additionally, the analysis of farmers in five Central Highland provinces revealed that although 100% of them have inter-cropped farms, they haven’t received any clear guidelines for proper procedures as they base their practices on practical experience and basic knowledge from other farmers.
During the conference, the representatives also discussed the preparation of new coffee varieties in the next 10 to 20 years and the best cross-breed practices impacting coffee crops. As a main conclusion, Vietnam will need 105 million seedlings for inter/cropping and 3.15 million buds for rejuvenating all Central Highlands provinces to prepare the plan for coffee varieties production for the inter/cropping period from 2018 to 2020.
The workshop received recommendations from both public and private sectors, seeking to improve the quality of coffee in years to come. The event also set the first steps for a potential cooperation between GCP and VnSat in improving the varieties quality. After the workshop, VnSat showed their commitment on providing the funding to DCP and scaling up the assessment to all nurseries in the Central Highlands. Thez will do this by conducting a detailed assessment of the situation of varieties management by the local authorities, as well as the compliance with legal regulations by local seedling production businesses in Central Highlands provinces. It was also proposed to evaluate the quality of varieties in nurseries and to organize workshops and communication activities, aiming to disseminate the results of the assessment.
The event took place in Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province with 80 representatives from the Western Highlands Agro-Forestry Science & Technical Institute, Department of Agricultural & Rural Department (DARD) and Provincial Agricultural Extension Centre (PAEC) of Central Highlands provinces, the Vietnam Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Project (VnSat), coffee companies (Olam, Simexco, among others), nurseries, and farmers.
Thanks to the support of GCP, and the key implementation of VnSat, it is expected that Vietnam will make significant changes in seedling quality management in the next months.
For more information on the Vietnamese Platform click here.