Rapid expansion focused mainly on yield, with little attention to quality, while aging plantations continue to grow—these are the direct challenges facing Vietnam’s coffee industry. More than ever, coffee replanting is essential for long-term sustainability. Dr. Lê Ngọc Báu, Director of the Western Highlands Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute (WASI), shared his perspective:
Coffee is one of the highest-value crops for farmers, especially ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands. After many years of intensive harvesting, trees are aging and both yields and bean quality have declined. Over the next decade, about 137,000 ha of coffee nationwide—27.4% of total coffee acreage—must be replanted, with more than 100,000 ha of old, low-yield coffee located in the Central Highlands alone.
Why replant now, when yields and prices are high?
Table of Contents
“It’s true Vietnam’s coffee yields rank among the world’s highest,” Dr. Báu explained. “But unchecked expansion without a focus on quality will inevitably reduce the crop’s value.”
In 1980, Vietnam had only 22,500 ha of coffee with an average yield of 0.78 t/ha, producing 8,400 t. By 1990, the area had grown to 119,000 ha, yield to 1.4 t/ha, and production to 92,000 t. Today there are over 525,000 ha, 90% in the Central Highlands, with an average yield of 1.8–2 t/ha, producing around 1 million t per year. The industry plan to 2020 aims to stabilize at 500,000 ha, slightly less than today, but to increase yields through intensive farming.
How to replant without cutting farmers’ income?
“Replanting doesn’t always mean uprooting every old tree,” Dr. Báu said. “Sowing new trees from seed risks 15–20% of plants never bearing fruit, while clearing and replanting demands very high costs. Instead, we recommend grafting new high-yielding scions onto old rootstocks. Whereas new seedlings need three years before the first harvest, grafted trees can produce over 1 t/ha in the second year and 2–3 t/ha from the third year onward. Normal trees yield about 15 kg of cherries, old poor trees only 5 kg, but grafted trees can produce 20 kg.”
Some pilot projects have succeeded by thoroughly clearing land, collecting old roots and rotating with other crops for 2–4 years before replanting. These replanted areas now yield 2.5–3 t of green coffee per hectare.
WASI also teaches “sunken planting”: when establishing new trees, plant the root collar 10–15 cm below the soil surface, then dig water basins around each tree at the start of the dry season. This protects the roots and allows efficient basin irrigation, a technique Vietnam uses more widely than any other coffee-producing country. Around each tree, farmers create a 4 m² basin capable of storing over 1,000 litres of rainwater, which prevents soil erosion and provides irrigation water during the dry months.
The need for enterprise support
Most Central Highlands farmers depend on coffee for their livelihoods, so large-scale replanting cannot succeed without government and—especially—private-sector support, at least in the first two years. “Without financial help,” Dr. Báu warned, “farmers may switch to other crops like maize or cassava.”
Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have authorized WASI to run a coffee-grafting program, but the state funds only 50% of the cost. “We hope major coffee companies will co-invest in mother-plant nurseries,” he said. “Each hectare needs about 1 billion VND in capital; any enterprise or private investor would receive 50% cost sharing. Yet so far, few companies have participated because seedling demand is currently low, making it hard to sell scions. To date we have established just 4.5 ha of scion nurseries across Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai and Lâm Đồng.”
Recommendations
“With coffee prices now around 50,000 VND/kg, even low yields of 1 t/ha still bring farmers a profit. So most are reluctant to cut old trees for replanting. We worry that if prices fall below 20,000 VND/kg, farmers will suddenly rush to replace old trees or graft new scions, creating a seedling shortage.”
Dr. Báu urged provinces in the Central Highlands to develop scion nurseries now to meet future demand and suggested that some old plantations in marginal areas be converted to higher-value crops such as rubber, cocoa or macadamia.
“Only with coordinated participation—from government and especially from coffee enterprises—can Vietnam replant its aging coffee trees in time and keep the industry on a sustainable growth path,” he concluded.