Đắk Nông Province has set a plan to replant and rejuvenate all aging, degraded coffee plantations. From 2021 to 2025, the province aims to “renew” more than 17,800 hectares.
Mr. K’Bem’s family in Quảng Sơn Commune (Đắk Glong District) owns nearly 1.5 hectares of coffee planted in 2001. Over time the trees became old and yields dropped.
In early 2020, through the provincial coffee replanting program, he received grafted seedlings to rehabilitate his coffee farm, along with fertilizer support and training in grafting, pruning, fertilizing, and weed management.
“The replanted coffee is thriving. In the last harvest, even though it was only the first fruiting season, the yield was already quite high,” Mr. K’Bem shared.
Similarly, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thanh from Hamlet 10, Nam Bình Commune (Đắk Song District), had almost 2 hectares of old, low-yield coffee using outdated varieties. She decided to completely replant the farm with new trees.
To prepare the soil, she ploughed, removed old roots, sun-dried the soil, and applied decomposed manure with phosphate and lime.
“By strictly following the technical guidelines, the new coffee trees have developed well.” Now in its sixth year, her replanted farm is healthy, with dense branching.
“Last year, at the first full harvest, yields reached 4 tons per hectare—about 1.5 tons higher than before replanting,” she said.
According to Mr. Vũ Ngọc Dương, Chairman of the Nam Bình People’s Committee, the commune has actively encouraged farmers to replant old, low-yield coffee.
Replanting activities are closely monitored to ensure 100% of the seedlings are certified and traceable, mainly using improved Robusta varieties such as TR4, TR8, and TR9, supplied by the Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute.
The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that in 2023, Đắk Nông planned to replant 3,559 hectares of coffee—2,673 hectares through new planting and 886 hectares through grafting.
Farmer Trần Văn Cường in Thuận An Commune (Đắk Mil District) noted that replanting coffee requires a careful, step-by-step technical process: removing old trees, uprooting stumps, sun-drying soil, liming to raise pH, digging planting holes, and treating for fungi and nematodes.
In the first two years, many farmers intercrop with short-term crops to supplement income while the young coffee trees establish.
Based on recent successes, Đắk Nông has drafted a 2021–2025 replanting plan to rejuvenate 17,892 hectares of coffee: 13,409 hectares will be newly planted and 4,482 hectares graft-improved.
The province’s goal is to replace aging, disease-prone, low-yield coffee trees to raise productivity and quality.
By 2025, Đắk Nông aims to lift its average coffee yield to 2.8–3 tons per hectare, increase total output by about 8,000 tons annually, and raise coffee farmers’ incomes to at least 1.5 times higher than before replanting.