Total coffee growing area in the four Central Higlands provinces will be reduced by about 53,000ha by 2020, according to the Steering Committee for the Central Highlands Region.

The move is part of efforts to designate the region as a key coffee growing area that is adaptable to climate change and developing sustainably.

By 2020 it is expected that Dak Lak province will have 190,000ha of coffee, 150,000ha in Lam Dong, 115,000ha in Dak Nong, and 75,000ha in Gia Lai, making a total of 530,000ha.

Based on the planning, the provinces will review and cut down areas that are inefficient and unsuitable for sustainable development.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development told the localities to study coffee varieties which have high productivity and quality and are resistant to insects and adaptive to climate change.

In the short term, the localities were asked to use new varieties with high productivity from 4.2 tonnes to 7 tonnes of beans per hectare to maintain the region’s total output of 1.3 million tonnes despite the shrinking area.

Source:VNA Date: 2017-05-16