Cocoa is one of the crops that bring high economic efficiency to farmers in Dak Lak province. The fact that cocoa prices have been kept at a high level recently has made cocoa growers very excited.

Cocoa growers are happy

Currently, the price of dry cocoa beans on the market fluctuates at 150,000 – 160,000 VND/kg. According to many farmers, if this price is maintained stably, cocoa growers will have a bumper crop this year.

Having grown cocoa for more than 20 years, Mr. Nguyen Van Dung (Ea Na commune, Krong Ana district) has never seen prices as high as this year, so he is very happy. His family has 2 hectares of cocoa for business, with an expected output of more than 1.5 tons of dry beans. According to Mr. Dung, although this year’s yield is about 5 quintals lower than last year, the selling price has doubled. With the current price of 153,000 VND/kg of dry beans, after deducting expenses, his family earned a profit of more than 180 million VND, an increase of about 40% compared to last year.

Not only Mr. Dung’s family, many other cocoa growers in Ea Na commune are also excited because of the increase in cocoa prices. Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha’s family (Thanh Cong village, Ea Na commune) has 1 hectare of cocoa planted since 2003, this year the garden’s output is estimated at 1.5 tons. Ms. Ha said that this year the price has increased to more than 150,000 VND/kg of dry beans (double that of last year). With this selling price, after deducting investment costs, her family earned a profit of about 200 million VND from the cocoa garden. This is also the highest profit her family has had since growing this tree. “If prices remain stable at the current level, cocoa trees will have an advantage over many other trees because they require less care and low investment costs, only about 15-20 million VND/ha,” Ms. Ha shared.

Chairwoman of the Ea Na Commune Farmers’ Association Mai Thi Hang said that in March – April 2024, when cocoa trees enter the harvest season, the price of cocoa beans on the market will also increase sharply, bringing joy to local cocoa farmers. The increase in cocoa prices has helped people increase their income, improve their lives, thereby giving them more motivation to stick with their gardens and focus more on investing in and caring for cocoa in the direction of improving quality and sustainable production.

Currently, the whole commune has more than 60 hectares of cocoa, with an output of nearly 100 tons of dry beans/year (yield of 1.5 tons/ha). In addition to the local advantage of having suitable soil conditions for growing cocoa, most cocoa growers are currently participating in cooperatives, linking with businesses to receive technical support, helping cultivation achieve high productivity and quality as well as stable output and price.

Towards sustainable development

According to Ms. Nguyen Hong Thuong, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Director of Nhat Tam Agricultural Service Cooperative (Ea Dar commune, Ea Kar district), the cooperative is currently linking with 200 households growing cocoa in the district, with a total area of ​​150 hectares.
This year, the weather has had little rain, so it is favorable for cocoa trees to grow well and achieve a yield of about 2 tons/ha (0.5 tons higher than last year); Total output is estimated at 300 tons of dry cocoa beans.

With the price that the cooperative is purchasing at 55,000 VND/kg of wet cocoa beans, 160,000 VND/kg of fermented dry cocoa beans (2,000 – 5,000 VND/kg higher than the market price), after deducting expenses, members will earn a profit of about 300 million VND/ha.

Ms. Thuong added that in addition to production for processing, the cooperative also cooperates with a number of chocolate manufacturing enterprises to purchase cocoa beans, helping farmers feel secure about the output.

Currently, the cooperative is encouraging people to switch to organic cocoa production to stabilize productivity, quality and meet the increasingly high demands of the market.

In order to expand the raw material area and develop sustainable cocoa trees in the direction of linking production and consumption, in 2024, the Cooperative will coordinate with Puratos Grand – Place Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Binh Duong province) to donate 15,000 cocoa seedlings and provide technical support and agricultural materials to create conditions for people to intercrop in old cashew gardens, thereby contributing to improving income for farmers in the district. Cocoa is considered one of the main crops of the province and Dak Lak is also the locality with the largest cocoa area in the country. Currently, the whole province has about 1,140 hectares of cocoa, with an average annual output of 1,525 tons, mainly concentrated in the districts of Ea Kar, Ea Sup, Krong Ana, Ea H’leo. Currently, in the province’s key cocoa growing areas, a chain has been established linking production and consumption, contributing to increasing the value of cocoa trees and bringing people a stable income of 100 – 130 million VND/ha/year.

According to a representative of the Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development), in the coming time, the province will orient cocoa development towards sustainability, adapting to climate change and meeting the regulations of the European Union (EUDR) to not cause deforestation as well as reducing carbon emissions in production.

Therefore, the province has agreed in principle to let the agricultural sector develop a Project to develop the cocoa industry, with the goal of reviewing the growing areas, stages from production, processing to the market, and support policies.

On that basis, experts will evaluate and propose solutions to promote the sustainable development of the cocoa industry. At the same time, seek and attract capable businesses to participate in the local cocoa value chain to ensure stable output, helping farmers feel secure in cultivating and sticking with this crop for a long time.

According to Tuyet Mai (Dak Lak Newspaper)