German newspaper highlights climate change impact on Vietnamese coffee growers
Die Rheinpfalz, a daily newspaper in the German western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, has just published an article about heavy climate change-induced consequences facing coffee growers in Vietnam. Germany is currently the Southeast Asian nation’s largest importer of Robusta coffee.
Farmers in Mang Den town, Kon Plong district, the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum harvest coffee (Photo: VNA)
Berlin (VNA) – Die Rheinpfalz, a daily newspaper in the German western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, has just published anarticle about heavy climate change-induced consequences facing coffee growersin Vietnam. Germany is currently the Southeast Asian nation’s largest importerof Robusta coffee.
According to the article, coffee grows well in the highlandsof Vietnam, where about 1.5 million people live on coffee cultivation. However, water sources for coffee farming in the region are becoming increasingly scarce due to the impact of climatechange which has affected the country for a long time.
The rainy season in the region is becoming more and more erratic, evenwithout rain at all, as in June this year. When it needs rain for the coffeetree to grow, the weather is hot; but when the tree blooms, it suddenly rains,causing the flowers to rot. This reduces coffee production and quality.
The article noted that coffee exports, with the majority headingfor the European market, have declined. Vietnam shipped 1.88 million tonnes ofcoffee overseas in 2018, with the figure continuously decreasing to 1.61million tonnes in 2019, 1.57 million tonnes in 2020, and 1.52 million in 2021.
The author went on to added that state agencies and NGOs aretrying to find solutions to help the country’s coffee industry become moreresilient and sustainable. The Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment has launched a 2021-2025 project on the replanting or grafting of about107,000 hectares of coffee with new varieties that are more resistant to pestsand diseases and more adaptable to climate change conditions.
The article highlighted that Vietnam is currently the second largestcoffee producer in the world (after Brazil) and the largest producer of Robustacoffee in the world. The nation’s customers are in about 80 countries across theglobe and 40% of its coffee output is exported to Europe. Germany is Vietnam’smost important consumer market, accounting for 15% of its total coffee exportsin 2021. According to the German Federal Statistical Office, Germany imported atotal of 1.21 million tonnes of coffee last year, of which 17% were fromVietnam./.
Vietnam aims to replant or transplant about 107,000ha of coffee in the 2021 – 2025 period, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
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Farmers in Mang Den town, Kon Plong district, the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum harvest coffee (Photo: VNA) 
