Some families have reduced production by up to 50%.
It's coffee harvest season, but Mr. Nguyen Van Bich, residing in Cu M'gar district, is not completely happy because of crop failure.
Mr. Bich's family has 4 sao of coffee in the business period. In the 2023 harvest, his family harvested 1.6 tons of beans. This year, the coffee crop failed, so the family estimates less than 800 kg, a 50% decrease in output.
Mr. Bich confided that the 2024 dry season had harsh weather and prolonged drought. Although he provided adequate water, the heat burned the flowers, affecting the coffee fruiting process.
"Fortunately, the coffee crop failed but the price doubled so his family did not lose income," Mr. Bich shared.
Not only Mr. Bich, many households in Dak Lak province are also in the situation of good prices but bad harvests. Ms. H Linh Nie, in Buon Ma Thuot city, shared that her family has more than 1 hectare of coffee but this year they have not harvested 1.5 tons.
Ms. H Linh said that the recent dry season had a long drought, the lake was dry, and there was not enough water to irrigate the coffee. According to Ms. H Linh, normally, the drought would last until early May before it rains. However, this year, the heat wave lasted until early June.
During this time, Mrs. H Linh's family watered the garden 5 times but it was no use. After watering all the trees, when she returned, the garden was dry and withered. Mrs. H Linh had to leave it to the weather, and collect as much as she could.
The garden was severely malnourished, so even though Ms. H Linh added a lot of fertilizer, it did not improve the yield much.
Coffee production decreased
According to the Dak Lak Provincial Statistics Office, the locality is leading the country in coffee acreage, accounting for more than 40% of the total area of Vietnam.
In the 2023-2024 crop year, the total coffee area in the province is 212,106 hectares, down 809 hectares compared to the previous crop year. Of which, the area for products is 200,441 hectares, down 400 hectares compared to the previous year, with an average yield of 26.72 quintals/hectare.
The province's total coffee output reached 535,672 tons, down 23,057 tons compared to the previous crop.
According to the leader of the Irrigation Department (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak province), the reason for the decline in both coffee area and output is due to the impact of the El Nino phenomenon.
Climate change has caused the 2023-2024 dry season to be prolonged and lack of rain, damaging 18,762.9 hectares of coffee. Of these, over 1,000 hectares of coffee were completely damaged.
Mr. Nguyen Hoai Duong - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak province said that coffee is at its highest price ever. It is 82% higher than the previous crop and nearly 3 times higher than previous years.
The increase in coffee prices has improved the living standards of coffee producers. Farmers have enough to eat and save, reinvest in better coffee and do not chase after other crops.
However, the agricultural sector warns that when coffee prices rise, it encourages farmers to pursue short-term benefits, not investing in quality but chasing output.
