Managing weeds between coffee trees continues to be a challenge for farmers and using responsible methods seems to be even more challenging. When using herbicides often the following principle is applied: “a lot helps a lot” which has led to problems. The GCP Collective Action Initiative ‘Responsible Use of Agro-Inputs for Coffee’ is addressing exactly these challenges in Vietnam with applied field research and policy development.
With a focus on herbicide usage, especially glyphosate, for the first 2.5 years, the initiative has collected baseline information which serves as the foundation for developing crucial solutions for the sector, especially farmers. This is vital as the Government of Vietnam has banned the use of glyphosate as of 30 June 2021. This now means that the import, trade and use of glyphosate is prohibited.
A key objective of this initiative is to provide farmers with good agricultural practices for weed management. With the developed integrated Weed Management Manual, farmers now have knowledge in their hands to manage weeds responsibly.
You can find the key results of the initiatives work already achieved for the period 10/2020 – 07/2021.
The initiative is financially supported through the Lavazza Foundation, IDH – The Sustainable Trade Initiative, JDE Peet’s, Nestlé, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, Sucden Coffee and Tchibo working jointly and pre-competitively. The GCP initiative is also advised by the government of Vietnam represented by the Vietnam Coffee Coordination Board.
GCP Collective Action Initiatives are pre-competitive to bring learnings and results back to the sector in order to learn, scale and replicate, making input resources more effective. Please be encouraged and invited to join this initiative and contribute to its success.
