If there is no rain soon, the coffee crop failure rate could reach 30%.
According to local sources, the underground water table is almost exhausted. Many families have had to run pump pipes more than 2 kilometers to find water for their coffee plantations.
Buon Ma Thuot’s coffee is now in the young-fruit stage, and farmers say the fruit-set rate so far is high.
Farmers estimate that if the dry weather continues through the end of April, the crop failure rate for the 2010–2011 season will surpass last season’s 15%.
A coffee grower in Buon Ho said: “If it rains between now and the end of April, this year’s crop loss will be as low as 5–7%. If not, it could climb to 30%.”
A heavy rain last week saved thousands of hectares of coffee from severe drought. However, the downpour also caused the groundwater level to sink deeper, increasing the risk of drought during this critical stage for determining the season’s yield.