In the more than half a century since Arabica coffee trees appeared on farms in Muong Ang, this tree species has "died and come back to life" many times. In 2017, Muong Ang district had nearly 4,000 hectares of coffee trees, but by 2021, there were only more than 2,000 hectares left. Many people have cut down coffee trees because of unstable output, low prices, and not being able to cover production costs.
However, in recent years, coffee prices have always been high and stable, so Arabica coffee trees in Muong Ang are also being strongly "reborn". Muong Ang district has also set a goal of increasing the coffee growing area to 5,000 hectares by 2030.
With suitable climate and soil conditions, the quality of Muong Ang coffee has been affirmed and has a high price in recent years. Currently, Muong Ang district is also the largest coffee growing area in Dien Bien province, with a total area of over 3,000 hectares (nearly 2,200 hectares have been harvested).
Coffee is also a long-term industrial crop that helps people to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and become rich with a profit of 80-100 million VND/ha/year. However, many coffee gardens have been planted for over 20 years and need to be replanted and replanted.
According to Mr. Ta Manh Cuong - Vice Chairman of Muong Ang District People's Committee, to overcome the problem of over-aged coffee, the district has increased the application of intensive farming techniques in places with suitable ecological conditions. At the same time, grafting, renovating or replanting with new coffee varieties. In addition, the district is currently reviewing suitable land funds to expand the coffee area and realize the goal of 5,000 hectares of coffee trees by 2030.
At the Coffee Development Workshop, held on December 23, Mr. Phung Danh Huan - expert from the Department of Crop Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said: "To replant coffee trees in Muong Ang, it is necessary to identify suitable coffee varieties. In particular, it is possible to apply the measure of plowing away all old coffee trees after the final harvest. In addition, it is possible to graft and renovate old and low-yielding coffee areas."
In 2024, Muong Ang district implemented value chain linkage projects in the supply of input materials and services, production organization, harvesting associated with the consumption of Catimor coffee products. This is a project under the National Target Program for Socio-Economic Development of Ethnic Minority Areas for the 2021-2025 period.
Accordingly, the district is implementing 4 projects with a total newly planted coffee area of over 114 hectares, with 174 participating households (88 poor households, 82 near-poor households). The total implementation cost is nearly 17.5 billion VND, of which the State budget supports over 8.5 billion, and the counterpart of participating households is nearly 9 billion.
However, the beneficiaries are all poor and near-poor households, often with small, fragmented land areas with steep slopes. In addition, the awareness of households participating in the project is not uniform, some households have not yet fully applied the techniques to actual production, which has affected the growth and survival rate of the trees.
Mr. Lu Van Cuong - Deputy Director of the Agricultural Service Center of Muong Ang district said: "With the number of dead coffee seedlings, the supplier will coordinate with the district to provide additional ones. However, it is not possible to replant at the moment because the crop season is over, it can only be done at the beginning of the rainy season in 2025".
