IDH supports initiatives to develop Vietnam's coffee landscape model

The coffee landscape is generating value for agriculture

On February 13, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan met with Mr. Daan Wensing, CEO and executive chair of the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH).

The two parties reviewed the orientation and strategy of collaboration in the coffee and pepper sectors, with the objective of promoting the sustainable, low-carbon agricultural growth of the Central Highlands.

Coffee is one of Vietnam's most important export agricultural goods with approximately 1.8 million tons, a total turnover of over UDS 4 billion in 2022, and providing income to more than 700,000 families; more than 95% of coffee production originates from the provinces of the Central Highlands.

The features of fragmented production, misuse of inputs such as fertilizers, agrochemicals, and irrigation water, and a lack of crop diversification in the cropping system make coffee production a significant source of carbon emissions.

"It is time to view agriculture which is creating new value, a new trend in which consumer preferences are changing. Since Vietnam announced its Strategy on sustainable agriculture and rural development, agriculture has been approached from a perspective of production to one of the value chains and economic thinking. We continue to view the economy in a new way, as a global initiative in the field of agriculture "Minister Le Minh Hoan presided over the opening of the conference.

According to the Minister, the landscape is not only a phrase on the package, but also a vision for agriculture in which ecosystems, settings, and techniques may produce greater value for agricultural goods such as pepper and coffee.

However, the Minister also stated that the Vietnam Strategy for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development is not simply a technical issue, but is also related to the fragmented and small production methods that have accumulated over time.

Piloting models of sustainable and low-emission coffee

Achieving sustainable agriculture is a crucial objective. As a result, several community agricultural extension programs, cooperatives in raw material areas, industry groups, and business associations have been established to combat the fragmentation and smallness of businesses such as coffee and pepper.

"In addition, the issue of the Central Highlands involves climate, land, and water resources. Farmers and companies have implemented a number of multi-layer, multi-crown, and intercropping strategies to address this issue. There are numerous types of plants that retain soil moisture and reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides, but there are origin and market issues "The Minister raised the issue and suggested that these contents be incorporated into the partnership program's communication, extension, training, and farmer awareness-raising initiatives.

In addition, the MARD leader anticipated that IDH would be one of the elements assisting the Ministry in achieving the Strategy for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development.

Mr. Daan Wensing, for his part, said that Vietnam's sustainable development partnership and public-private partnership projects are exceptional worldwide initiatives with distinctive qualities.

Mr. Wensing stated, "We applaud the efforts to shift Vietnam's agriculture industry from a production to an economic mindset since this is in accordance with IDH's strategy."

In addition, he underlined the need for cooperation with the MARD, local authorities, production companies, and farmers. Therefore, according to Mr. Wensing, it is essential to comprehend the demands and market trends of the global community, such as carbon market difficulties, emission reduction, and the law on due diligence and anti-deforestation guarantee. Beginning in 2024, the strategy will be implemented for high-risk imports into Europe, including coffee.

In order to grow the Vietnamese coffee industry in Vietnam, Ms. Tran Thi Quynh Chi, Asia Regional Director of IDH's Landscape Program, requested that the two parties collaborate on the implementation and expansion of a number of the organization's operations.

IDH proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development develop a policy to apply a landscape approach to replicate this model in all provinces of the Central Highlands; integrate Ministry resources for coordination of the replication process; and support coffee business enterprises to access foreign preferential loans to test the mechanism for farmers to invest in sustainable agricultural material areas.

In addition, IDH recommended that the two parties test a method of evaluation for non-deforested coffee goods, rating low, medium, and high risk of deforestation in the EU-defined Central Highlands.

Concerning carbon emissions, IDH proposes piloting a carbon insetting model in the product chain, sharing the benefits of reducing emissions and making recommendations on reference emission levels for coffee-intercropping systems, with the goal of achieving 50% acreage and low-emission production by 2030 and zero carbon emissions in the coffee, pepper, etc. industry by 2050.