A new coffee-irrigation technique, developed by scientists at the Western Highlands Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute (WASI) and officially recognized by Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as an advanced technical method, is proving to be an effective intensive-farming solution for high-quality coffee production.
This water-saving irrigation model, combined with planting windbreak shelterbelts, shade trees and intercropped fruit trees inside coffee plantations, has already been widely adopted in key Robusta-growing areas such as Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Lâm Đồng and Bình Phước. It has brought tangible benefits to both coffee enterprises and smallholder farmers.
The method is based on the coffee plant’s biological characteristics: most of its root mass lies in the upper soil layer (0–30 cm), with feeder roots extending roughly 0–50 cm deep, so its water demand is high.
Traditionally, farmers irrigated five times per dry season using sprinkler or basin irrigation with very large volumes—300 to 400 liters of water per plant each time, and sometimes up to 650 liters for mature coffee—far exceeding the crop’s real needs and causing serious waste. In contrast, the new technique shows that less water can be applied while maintaining, or even increasing, yields.
Under this new schedule:
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Newly planted coffee (first year): 120 liters per plant every 20–22 days.
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Second and third years: 240 liters per plant every 20–22 days.
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Mature, bearing coffee: about 500 liters per plant every 25–30 days after harvest, still sustaining yields of 3–4 tons of green beans per hectare or more.
According to WASI researchers, the key to efficient irrigation is correctly timing the first watering of the season. Watering too early wastes water and disrupts flowering and fruit set. Watering too late—when soil moisture falls below about 25–26 percent—makes it difficult for coffee trees to recover from drought stress and may even prevent full recovery.