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The first multi-stakeholder discussion on this topic was organized by HRNS on behalf of the initiative for coffee&climate and CIAT in July 2017. It aimed to reveal the major issues caused to the Vietnamese coffee sector by the changing climate and develop an action plan on a national level.

Forty participants of the workshop represented all fields of the industry – government’s agencies (MARD, DARD, IPSARD), roasters (JDE, Nestle, MERCOFFEE), research institutes (WASI, Tay Nguyen University), traders (ECOM, DAKMAN, SIMEXCO, Louis Dreyfus), platforms (IDH, UNREDD, GREENcoffee, BMT Coffee assosiation), and farmers from the Central Highlands.

“We often get different scientific figures on climate change, but in order to improve the situation it’s crucial to make sure we align our findings”

These words of the vice director of WASI Mr. Thuonghe emphasize the importance of sharing research findings as a cornerstone for the future action plan and thus perfectly summarizing the main goal of the workshop. Without comparing data from various institutions, it would be impossible to work out effective policies to deal with the climatic turbulences that are threatening the coffee sector.

In his presentation “Sustainable Coffee Production under Changing Climatic Conditions” Dr. Dave D’haeze from HRNS explained how weather conditions determine the quality, yield and production costs of coffee, affecting the whole supply chain from farmers over traders and exporters to roasters. Dr. D’haeze showed the climate change adaptation options for the Vietnamese coffee sector and emphasized the importance of collective effort in addressing the issue.

CIAT’s research results were presented in Orla O’Halloran’s report “Main findings from the c&c survey conducted by CIAT”. She introduced the survey methods for each of the aspects of coffee growing, revealing main issues as well as suggested solutions. Mr. Vu Thai Truong shared the results of UNREDD work in his presentation “How existing and/or planned programs/projects are operating to cope with climate change in coffee production”. The main focus was on the various applications of the REDD+ project in Vietnam.

During the plenary discussion, all representatives had a chance to discuss the challenges in their segments of coffee production and to give critical feedback to current programs geared towards climate change adaptation.

Topics such as the pros and cons of intercropping, switching to smart fertilizers with reduced carbon footprint, selective introduction of new climate resilient coffee varieties, fees for water use and many others were brought to audience’s attention and documented by delegates.

Moving from theory to practice the participants were divided in four groups to brainstorm all possible solutions for four major issues – irrigation, pests and diseases, fertilization and postharvest processing and coffee quality. An hour later the groups reported their results to the audience.

The vice director of the Department of Crop production under the Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Dr. Le Van Duc concluded with a statement:

“I’ll add all the ideas and outcomes of the workshop into MARD’s national agenda on climate change”

The next stakeholder convening is tentatively planned for the 3rd quarter of 2017 aiming to discuss policy changes, monitoring activities and a strategic action plan for 2018.

Buon Ma Thuot, Vietnam – March 15th, 2017 – Climate change has been affecting Vietnamese coffee industry for nearly a decade and is finally conceded on a state level as a real threat to the country’s economy. That was one of the central issues discussed at the International Workshop “Development of Vietnam Coffee Industry Adapting to Climate Change and International Integration” organized by the Central Highlands Steering Committee, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Peoples Committee of Dak Lak in Buon Ma Thuot on March 13, 2017 and attended by a few hundred delegates from roasting companies, farming associations, banks, scientific institutions and state departments. The chairing board included Mr. Dieu K’re, the Member of the Central Communist Party Standing Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Highlands Steering Committee, Mr. Ha Cong Tuan, the Vice-minister of MARD and Mr. Y Giang Gry Nie Knong, the Vice-chairman of Daklak PPC. The workshop was a part of biannual Coffee Festival in Dak Lak.

“Vietnamese coffee can’t be a world brand if we keep selling beans in big unnamed sacks”

This harsh remark by the workshop chairman, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Mr. Ha Cong Tuan revealed the essence of another big issue. Being the second largest coffee exporter in the world, Vietnam remains unknown to international coffee consumers who start their morning with a cup of branded coffee made of Vietnamese beans. Apart from the low competitiveness of Vietnamese business the chairman highlighted some other problems of the industry, such as insufficient replantation rate and early blooming taken down by the heavy rains as one of the consequences of climate change.

But what’s the use of replanting trees and creating a coffee brand for Vietnam if drastically changing climate ruins the yields by draughts, soil degradation, nematodes, and new species of pests? The consequences of the climate change for the coffee farming have been presented in scientific report by Truong Hong, the Director of Western Highlands Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute (WASI). Mr. Hong emphasized the importance of multiple cropping, water use optimization and training programs for farmers as key measures to tackle the climate change.

As a matter of fact, all the above-mentioned solutions have been implemented by the HRNS Foundation for the last decade.

The Regional Manager of Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung Dave D’haeze shared the results of the Foundation’s research conducted within coffee&climate in the Central Highlands, which confirm WASI’s observations. Due to immediate interventions through the Nestle/Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation program HRNS has started quantifying the impact of changing irrigation volumes for coffee, from actual state to best practices by high-resolution monitoring of weather and water variables as well as educating local stakeholders about the advanced water monitoring technology. Mr. D’haeze also introduced a recent pilot project run by HRNS to address expected water scarcity issue by implementing a new system called Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR). The system is meant to be installed at farms and bring excessive water from slopes of farmlands back to the wells through special filters. First filtering tanks and drainages have been assembled at a few households last week. HRNS experts will carefully monitor the quality of filtered water. The report and action plan of HRNS was greatly appreciated by the participants of the workshop and initiated a hot discussion at the backroom during the coffee break.