Đắk Lắk is Vietnam’s largest coffee‐growing province. According to the Đắk Lắk Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the province currently has over 183,000 hectares of coffee. More than 85% of this area is planted and managed by smallholder farmers; the rest belongs to companies and larger enterprises that operate in concentrated coffee‐producing zones.
Notably, over 30% of Đắk Lắk’s coffee trees are now 17 years old or older, including about 28,000 hectares planted before 1990 that are producing poor yields. Between 2005 and 2010, the province removed 6,767 hectares of old, low-yield coffee and replanted or newly established 14,197 hectares.
However, both local authorities and agricultural scientists report that the process of cutting down old trees to create a new production cycle—or fully clearing and replanting—faces serious obstacles. The main problems are root diseases, limited effectiveness of disease control measures, and difficulties in improving soil quality.
In addition, most farmers replant based on personal experience. As a result, much of the new coffee has been planted on land that was not properly treated or rehabilitated, sometimes in areas without reliable irrigation. Soil erosion and unfavorable weather conditions have further lowered the quality of the coffee and made yields unstable.