These days, coffee growers across the Central Highlands are scrambling to find pickers. Although peak harvest hasn’t arrived, the shortage of labor is already worrying plantation “owners.” Many hires are arranged through labor brokers.
Farmers anxious
At Đăk Đoa township (Đăk Đoa district, Gia Lai)—a gathering point for workers from lowland provinces seeking harvest jobs—by 7 a.m. hundreds of coffee farmers are already waiting to recruit.
Nguyễn Quang from Ia Băng commune (Đăk Đoa) said anxiously: “For a week now I’ve come here every day to find workers, but still no luck. I have 3 hectares of coffee and I’m on my own—I need five more people.”
This season, coffee prices aren’t high, only about 23,000–26,000 VND/kg. Many areas also lost yield due to dry-season water shortages and recent storms. Nevertheless, because labor is scarce, daily wages for coffee pickers in Gia Lai run 70,000–100,000 VND per person per day. Monthly live-in workers are about 2,500,000 VND per person, with food and lodging included. That’s the highest so far, and will likely rise further.
Squeezed by brokers
As usual “when the time comes,” workers from many provinces head to the Central Highlands for harvest jobs. Local workers are often paid by the day or by output, while migrants usually sign by the month so the employer covers room and board. Monthly hires not only pick on the farm but also help haul coffee to drying yards or into storage; some stay on the plots to both harvest and guard the crop.
Some individuals exploit workers’ labor through brokering. They typically place workers with large farms needing many hands, canvassing widely—especially in the North Central provinces. After each placement, they collect a commission from both sides, and workers’ wages are paid through the broker.
Hà Thị Thuật from Bá Thước (Thanh Hóa), working on a coffee plot in Ia Kha township (Ia Grai district, Gia Lai), said: “A lot of people from my commune came, but only nine of us are here. I don’t even know how much the pay is.”
It takes roughly 100 worker-days to harvest 1 hectare of coffee. The Central Highlands has about 400,000 hectares under coffee; during harvest, at least 30% additional out-of-province labor is needed. Nam Yang commune (Đăk Đoa, Gia Lai) has around 700 hectares of coffee and, in harvest season, more than 1,000 outside workers—mainly from Quảng Nam and Bình Định—come to hire on.