Each dry season, Đắk Lắk faces drought and severe shortages of irrigation water for coffee. Local media have repeatedly warned about the depletion of underground water resources.
Yet many coffee growers in Đắk Lắk are making the problem worse by wasting water and ignoring the advice of agricultural experts.
According to a survey by the Western Highlands Agro-Forestry Science and Technology Institute, farmers in Đắk Lắk typically irrigate five times per dry season, using 600–700 liters of water per tree each time. With this practice, an estimated 300–400 liters per tree is wasted at every irrigation.
With roughly 180,000 hectares of coffee, that means about 400 million cubic meters of water are being squandered every dry season—most of it pumped from underground aquifers.
The institute’s recommended water-saving schedule suggests that for newly planted coffee, the first year requires only about 120 liters per tree per irrigation, with a 20–22 day cycle. In the next two years, about 240 liters per tree every 22–25 days is enough. For mature, productive coffee trees, about 500 liters per tree per irrigation is sufficient.
A key point for saving water is choosing the correct time for the first irrigation of the season. Watering too early can disrupt the growth cycle and reduce flowering and fruit set; watering too late can prevent trees from recovering from dry stress and resuming normal growth.
Researchers also emphasize that shade trees—which block wind and sun—are essential for high yields. Studies show coffee grown under shade consistently produces over 20 % more than unshaded coffee. With shade trees in place, only three irrigations per dry season are usually needed instead of five, and damage from severe drought is much less.
Shade trees can also provide valuable secondary products such as timber or fruit. Nevertheless, statistics show that more than 80 % of Đắk Lắk’s coffee area currently lacks shade trees. Local authorities are actively campaigning to reverse this figure by 2015, but so far progress has been slow