This year, the Central Highlands experienced a cold spell during Tet (Lunar New Year). Most farmers avoided watering their coffee trees during the holiday, fearing that early blossoms would be damaged by the cold, which could hurt yields. So, starting on the second and third day of Tet, they began irrigating their coffee crops.
Dozens of households from the communes of Buôn Hồ town and Krông Búk District (Đắk Lắk) flocked to Pơng Đrang market (Krông Búk) to stock up on fertilizers, diesel fuel, and food in preparation for the first coffee-watering round of the dry season.
Y Quan (31), from Đạt Hiếu Ward in Buôn Hồ, said his family owns more than one hectare of coffee about 10 km from their home. Right after Tet, he and his wife hurried to prepare irrigation pipes and all the supplies needed to head to their fields for watering.
Because their plantation is far from home, the couple must stay in their field hut for three to five days for each irrigation round. Typically, they water the coffee three to five times a year, depending on the weather, with about 15–20 days between each round. Y Quan added that some families with larger coffee areas or land far from water sources often stay on their farms for a week to half a month for each irrigation cycle.