“Quick death” disease has been devastating many black pepper plantations across Vietnam’s Southeast region, and the pepper gardens in Châu Đức (Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu) are no exception. Yet by following scientists’ technical recommendations and applying their own creative methods, local farmers are gradually pushing back this disease.
Intercropping with Coffee
Previously, most pepper in Châu Đức was grown in pure monoculture. But faced with price risks and disease outbreaks, farmers began intercropping pepper with coffee. Instead of planting 1,700–2,000 pepper vines per hectare as before, they now reduce pepper density to about 900–950 vines and plant an equal number of coffee trees—one coffee plant beside each pepper vine. Pepper bases are hilled up high, while the soil around each coffee tree is left slightly sunken.
Coffee plants naturally draw water well, while pepper is highly sensitive to waterlogging. With this arrangement, water from irrigation quickly drains toward the coffee tree base, preventing excess moisture around the pepper roots and lowering the risk of disease. At the same time, fewer pepper vines per hectare means less chance of the disease spreading from plant to plant.
Farmer Nguyễn Ngà of Tân Bình hamlet, Bàu Chinh commune, reports that on his 2.3 ha of intercropped pepper and coffee he harvested 3 tons of pepper and 2.8 tons of coffee last season (his pepper crop is still recovering from earlier disease losses). At current prices—about 110,000 VND/kg for pepper and over 50,000 VND/kg for coffee—his total revenue reached roughly 450 million VND, leaving nearly 300 million VND in profit after costs, or more than 100 million VND profit per hectare. According to agricultural officer Lê Văn Tứ, around 80% of the pepper gardens in Bàu Chinh are now intercropped with coffee.
A Veteran Farmer’s Unusual Method
In the same hamlet, farmer Lê Dũng’s pepper garden has never suffered from quick-death disease, even while neighboring plots have been hit. Along with strictly following scientific advice, he has developed his own practical techniques.
From books, Dũng learned that Phytophthora, the fungus responsible for quick-death disease, thrives in prolonged high humidity. So his top priority is to avoid long-lasting wetness after either irrigation or rain.
While digging a drainage trench midway between two pepper vines (about 2.5 m apart), he noticed many feeder roots extending from each vine. Reasoning that water and fertilizer applied there could still be absorbed by the pepper plants, he began irrigating and fertilizing in the trench instead of directly at the base. This greatly reduced the risk of waterlogging the crown of each vine.
He also shaped a small basin around each pepper vine to hold and quickly drain rainwater after storms. As a result, while other gardens stayed waterlogged after heavy rain, his plot dried rapidly.
Dũng also refined his irrigation method. He observed that the local red basalt soil holds water well because of its clay content. Spraying water directly onto the soil surface erodes it and breaks its structure; fine clay particles then seal the pores, forming a crust that slows drainage. To prevent this, he spreads leaves and branches inside each watering basin and lets the water flow through them. This keeps the soil surface intact and allows water to drain quickly.
For the past three years, Dũng has shared these anti-moisture techniques with many other farmers in the area, and they have reported good results.