Coffee is one of Vietnam’s key industrial crops, with total acreage expanding steadily year after year. Millions of farmers depend primarily on income from coffee.
Currently, two coffee species are mainly cultivated in the country: Arabica and Robusta. In the Central Highlands alone, Robusta accounts for roughly 95% of the total area—making it the top priority for growers.
For many years production has focused almost entirely on yield and output, while quality has often been overlooked. A common example is the widespread harvesting of unripe cherries. Drying and storage practices have also been inconsistent, so Vietnamese coffee typically receives lower quality scores. Another persistent problem is leaf rust disease, which causes premature leaf drop and reduces yields.
An equally critical factor is varietal quality. During the rush to expand plantings in past decades, most Robusta was established from seed that had not been carefully selected. As a result, the trees have not reached their full potential in either yield or quality, and the beans are often small and uneven—typically only about 13–14 g per 100 beans.
Because Robusta requires cross-pollination, researchers have focused on identifying superior “mother” plants and then multiplying them vegetatively to preserve the desired traits. In Vietnam this effort has now produced encouraging results.
During a visit to the Western Highlands, the head of the Western Highlands Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute (WASI), Dr. Lê Ngọc Báu, shared some promising developments. In the experimental fields, M.Sc. Chế Thị Đa, head of the Industrial Crops Department, showed striking clusters of unusually large coffee cherries—far bigger than typical varieties. Side-by-side comparisons clearly reveal the difference.
Since 1999, WASI has selected four outstanding Robusta clonal lines—TR9, TR11, TR12 and TR13—officially released region-wide in 2006. In particular, TR9 and TR12 produce exceptionally large cherries and consistently high yields of 4.2–5.5 tons of green beans per hectare. One hundred beans weigh an impressive 18–25 g, and the share of top-grade (Grade 1) beans reaches 93–98 %—roughly double the proportion found in ordinary commercial plantings. Just as important, these clones show strong resistance to coffee leaf rust, a welcome sign for coffee growers nationwide.
Globally, plant breeders are now prioritizing high-yield coffee varieties with large bean size. Larger beans typically command a premium—about US $100 more per ton—and tend to accumulate more flavor compounds, leading to better cup quality. For farmers, bigger cherries are also easier to harvest.
With these advances, Vietnamese coffee is well positioned to compete on equal footing with the world’s leading coffee-producing nations.