The Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival is a large economic and cultural event, relating to coffee, which has been organised in Vietnam for the first time. This is a specific initiative to honour Vietnamese coffee in general and Buon Ma Thuot coffee in particular, thus raising Vietnamese coffee trademarks in the domestic and international markets and exchanging ideas and solutions on developing coffee plants and products in a sustainable manner. The festival will take place in Buon Ma Thuot city from December 2-5.
Prospect of coffee plants
With fertile soil and favourable climatic conditions, as well as industrious people, Dak Lak province has the largest coffee farming area in Vietnam. Furthermore, the flavour of Dak Lak coffee is very specific. Coffee has been a major export item of Dak Lak for a long time, accounting for 85 per cent of its annual export turnover. The province now has 163,000 hectares of coffee with an average yield of 360,000 tonnes per year. Dak Lak has 90 processing establishments with a total capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year. At the same time, 15 enterprises have invested in the wet processing technology with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes of products per year. Dak Lak has around 20 establishments processing powder coffee and many of which have become famous such as Trung Nguyen, An Thai and Thang Loi. Dak Lak’s coffee has been exported to 67 countries and territories, especially such hard-to-please markets as the US, Japan and the EU.
The province has set up a system which regulates the farming, caring, processing and sales of Dak Lak coffee. Many experts, scientists and entrepreneurs are involved in the system to provide advice to the Dak Lak People’s Committee on issuing suitable policies for the sustainable development of the province’s coffee industry. Nguyen Van Lang, chairman of the Dak Lak People’s Committee, said that the province was developing plans to build Buon Ma Thuot coffee trademarks, orientating coffee producers to follow the Vietnamese standard VN4193:2001, thus offering the market high quality coffee products. The province has encouraged local producers to diversify their products to increase the value of their commodities. Dak Lak has put coffee into its major trade promotion programmes, providing financial support equal to part of the costs for enterprises to introduce their products to the world market. At the same time, the province is carrying out a project on producing clean coffee with a total investment capital of US$100,000 to upgrade 100,000 hectares of coffee plants. The province provides maximum support for coffee farmers and producers in harvesting and processing coffee with soft loans from its export assistance fund, tax priorities and post-investment interest subsidies.
Raising coffee trademarks to new heights
Buon Ma Thuot coffee has been famous among the Vietnamese public for a long time. This is expressed in the Vietnamese people’s thinking, arts and food as coffee is often an inspiration. The idea about the organisation of the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival is sourced from the wish of those who love and have a close relationship with coffee plants. They want it to be an opportunity to honour Vietnamese coffee trademarks, thus contributing to the development of coffee farming and processing. Via its various activities, the festival will provide a full introduction of coffee trees as well as potential, advantages, opportunities and challenges of Buon Ma Thuot coffee in particular and Vietnamese coffee in general. The festival has an exhibition area with 300 pavilions of over 100 producing and processing enterprises, and equipment suppliers. Apart from powder coffee, nuts, and fresh coffee, and flavours, enterprises will introduce handicrafts made of coffee wood, many of which have been exported. Scientific research and studies about coffee plants and varieties, fertiliser, plant protection chemicals, and coffee tending models, development charts and origin of Buon Ma Thuot coffee will also be introduced during the festival. Lang said that the event was a good opportunity for enterprises to contact and introduce their partners and visitors to their products, targets, and cultural value. “Therefore, we have asked enterprises to decorate their pavilions to depict specific features of their trademarks,’ said Lang. Also, during the festival, seminars and demonstration of the wet processing technology will be held. In particular, the organisers will arrange a computer network linked with the London market for enterprises and visitors to refer to online coffee trading transactions during the festival.
Enjoying a memorable visit
On the green plateau during the winter time, a hot cup of coffee gives people great pleasure. This is a special occasion to enjoy the flavour of nature and the hard work of local farmers. Stories told around cups of coffee will focus on finding solutions to help Vietnamese coffee to ‘conquer’ the world market. During this special event, apart from enjoying coffee, visitors will be able to walk on roads through coffee plantations, and enjoy cultural activities or join attractive ecological tours as Dak Lak has many beautiful sights, including the D’ray Sap and Trinh Nu waterfalls, the Don village, Lak Lake and the province’s mountains and forests with their many stories and legends.
Phuong Oanh
Vietnamese
