Vietnam Needs More Help to Expand Cocoa Production
While Vietnamese coffee and pepper farmers are struggling due to the current drop in market price and the lack of high-quality products to sell, cocoa farmers are benefiting from the Success Alliance - Sustainable Cocoa-Agriculture-Forestry System, shortly called Cocoa Program, officially funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) with a sum of US$4 million.
Financial assistance from outside
Vietnam possesses a lot of favourable natural conditions for cocoa development. Million hectares of fat land in the South East and Central Highlands regions and western part of the southern region, which were used for industrial crops, are proven to be suitable for cocoa cultivation.
In the current situation that pepper and coffee farmers have harvested successively poor crops over recent years and the demand for crop diversification becomes more imperative, the cocoa tree is the optimal choice.
According to a cocoa grower from southern Ba Ria Vung Tau province, cocoa can be grown under the shade of other crops such as coconut palms and coffee trees, or even in forests. “Many near-or-over-100-year-old cocoa trees, which have been left uncared for a long time, still grow well as they used to be,” said another farmer living near Tri An Reservoir. It takes as a strong evidence that local farmland are completely suited for cocoa cultivation.
More than 3,000 cocoa trees supplied by the US and Dutch government are currently growing in central highlands Dak Lak, Mekong Delta Ben Tre, and southern Binh Phuoc provinces. However, a shortage of capital and technical assistance and lack of legal commitments on cocoa consumption has hindered the development of cocoa production at these localities. The USDA has given US$4 million in aid for the Vietnamese cocoa farmers through Cocoa Program. The fund has been closely managed by Vietnam’s executive board. Recently, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided Vietnam with US$800,000 to help Vietnam become a supplier of high-quality fermented cocoa beans. The Dutch government has invested 650,000 Euros in helping Vietnam become a high-quality cocoa producer.
Policies needed to help cocoa farmers sell their products effectively
Almost all cocoa farmers have taken their extreme interests in consumption. At the moment, the price of Vietnam’s farm produce is falling in the world market. And, cocoa is no exception,” according to the director of cocoa sustainability of MasterFoods USA, Roger Dehnel. The world market price of cocoa is near a 10-year high following an increasing demand for cocoa in Asia. Most of Vietnam’s cocoa products are shipped to the Europe and America, the world’s two biggest cocoa consumers. The world demand for cocoa has increased by 2 to 4 per cent (or US$60,000 to US$120,000) per year. In 1954, the world’s total cocoa productivity was reported at 800,000 tonnes and the figure reached 3.2 million tonnes in 2002. Cocoa is offered at price of US$1,300 per tonne on average in New York.
“Cocoa farmers always have questions concerning the stability of cocoa prices and the funding for cocoa growers,” said an office staff of FD & F Man Cocoa Vietnam Ltd. in Mekong Delta Ben Tre and Central Highlands Dak Lak provinces.
The M&M Company has begun operation in Vietnam since 1984 and officially established ED& F Man Cocoa Vietnam Ltd. Co. in 2004. The company currently runs two cocoa procuring agencies in Ben Tre and Dak Lak provinces and plans to extend its activities into southern Binh Phuoc province this year. Last year, the company purchased cocoa beans from local farmers at a price of VND30,000 per kilo, tripling that of 2000. In addition to crop diversification and raising the country’s export revenues, cocoa can help Vietnam curb environmental problems. At present, China is the Vietnam’s biggest cocoa importer. The M&M Company’s factory based in Shanghai annually processes hundreds tonnes of cocoa. Each 100,000 hectares under cocoa cultivation is estimated to yield out a total output of 200,000 tonnes on average. The four international companies that are buying Vietnamese cocoa are M&M, Cargill, Amajaro, and Olam. “For a long-term strategy, cocoa farmers need a firm commitment on consumption and a suitable area for cocoa cultivation to avoid intercropping with other industrial crops,” said Dr. Nguyen Dinh, the director of the Natural Resources and Environment Center of the Agricultural Planning and Designing Institute.
Vietnam set to become giant cocoa exporter
In order to become ranked among the world’s biggest cocoa exporters, Vietnam needs to supply approximately 50,000 tonnes of cocoa per annum to the world market.
The Vietnamese government will make use of all financial assistance from international organizations for developing cocoa production.
On March 8, 2005, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bui Ba Bong, agreed to set up a task force which will be responsible for holding in-depth dialogues among state authorities, researchers, purchasers, donors and farmers. According to him, thin supplies of cocoa (pushing up prices of cocoa in the world market) have hindered capacities of cocoa processing companies worldwide. The situation has forced these companies to put more money into cocoa cultivation in countries that are suited for the trees. Vietnam currently rooms million hectares of agricultural land suitable for cocoa plantation. In the short term, a trial cocoa cultivation project will be carried out on 10,000 hectares of land in Binh Phuoc, Dak Lak, and Ben Tre provinces between now and 2010.
Vietnam should establish a cocoa association to look after local cocoa farmers’ interests and create a close link among farmers, government, and international organizations.
Vietnamese
