Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) hasapproved a five-year coffee industry development project, worth 170 billion VNDor 7.48 million USD, to improve coffee quality, develop a premium Vietnamesebrand and expand export markets.

WhileVietnam has been the world’s second largest coffee exporter for two decades, 90percent of coffee exports were still in the raw form; and when it is sold atthe international markets, it mostly comes under foreign names.

In2016, the country’s exports of coffee hit a record high of 1.78 million tonnes,generating turnover of 3.34 billion USD, year-on-year increases of 32.8 percentin volume and 24.7 percent in value from 2015.

Vietnamesecoffee only accounted for one percent of the world’s total output in 1991; 25years later, its market share reached approximately 20 percent.

However,the value of the Vietnamese coffee has not grown sustainably but suffering upsand downs due to impacts of climate change, land degradation and old-fashionedfarming techniques. Last year, the industry went through the most severedrought in the last 30 years.

Accordingto President of the Vietnam Cocoa and Coffee Association (Vicofa) Luong Van Tu,coffee has brought a better life to millions of farmers in Vietnam ten yearsago but the crop’s yields and quality have declined sharply in recent years asmost of coffee trees have become old and stunted. It resulted in drops in valuethat underpays the farmers’ hard work.

Theold farming practices that include harvesting green and ripe coffee beans atthe same time, along with outdated processing and post-harvest quarantinetechniques are also reasons behind the decrease in quality, he added.

Tochange the current situation, the MARD will launch the new scheme, namely“High-quality Vietnamese coffee”, next year with the aim to create linkages forproduction and distribution and develop large areas of materials forhigh-quality coffee production with a system of updated drying and storagefacilities and suitable processing plants.

Theproject, running from 2018 through to 2023, with a vision to 2030, will helpincrease added value of Vietnamese coffee products, particularly those from theCentral Highlands, North Central Region and some mountainous northernprovinces.

Agoal of the programme is to add 5 percent to the country’s total coffee valueby 2020 and 7 percent by 2030, compared to that of the 2013-2014 crop.

Thecoffee industry sets to remain as the second biggest coffee exporter and doublethe export turnover to 6 billion USD by 2030, Tu unveiled.-VNA