Khe Sanh town and several communes in Hướng Hóa District (Quảng Trị Province) are known as some of the country’s best raw coffee-growing areas. For local farmers, coffee has long been the mainstay crop. But this year, many coffee growers in Khe Sanh are facing hardship as harvests fail and prices collapse.
Many farmers say they have never seen yields drop so sharply. Poor weather conditions, along with branch dieback, mealybugs, and stem borers, have all taken a heavy toll. “The coffee trees bear fewer cherries and ripen unevenly. In past years, my garden produced over 20 tons of fresh coffee cherries, but this year I’m not sure it will even reach 10 tons,” said Hoàng Thị Khuyên, a long-time coffee farmer in Tân Hiệp Hamlet, Tân Liên Commune.
At the same time last year, fresh coffee cherries sold for 13,000–14,000 VND per kilogram; now prices have plunged to barely 6,000–7,000 VND/kg. With prices “hitting bottom,” many families are letting cherries overripen on the trees, unwilling to hire pickers because they would incur heavy losses. Farmers who borrowed from banks to finance their crops are now sinking into debt.
Hồ Quốc Trung, Deputy Head of the Hướng Hóa District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, explained that prices have fallen partly because global coffee prices are down and partly because major processing plants in the area have yet to begin operation. “We will inspect and urge these large plants to start running soon to stabilize prices and prevent smaller processors from squeezing farmers,” Trung said.