Harvesting coffee (image: Quang Thuyết/TTXVN)

The demand of coffee irrigation in dry season is very big, 1ha coffee needs from 1.600 to 1.700m3 water. In the past few years, climate change in Vietnam in general and Dak Lak in particular happenned increasingly causing surface water, groundwater declined seriously. Only 5 years ago, every dry season, droughts in Dak Lak frequently made tens thousands hectares coffee dry up, killed plants or reduced yield, some crops has lossed of 30-50% productivity, caused big damages to farmers.

 To address this context, Dak Lak province has plan to replant the coffee area and guides the farmers moved the coffee areas not actively in water, and slopes at 15 degrees or more to plant other crops  which have higher economic efficiency.

The province also guide farmers, businesses determine the first and best irrigation period and implemented in accordance with the water-saving irrigation process with the  suitable volume of water for coffee from 400 to 600 liters of water / tree / 1 watering.

Dak Lak also advised farmers, businesses applied better the techniques fertilizer according to soil fertility to save fertilizer cost from 8 to 10% (equivalent to 1 million VND 700,000 / ha), used new and high-yield coffee plants, drought-planted crop and planted forest belt trees, shade trees, mulched to keep moisture, pruning, made hole for coffee plant to press residues of plants to help coffee be resistant to drought.

Especially, Dak Lak province has multiple the diversification models in coffee plantation by intercroped the perennial crops such as avocados goods, durian, pepper, jackfruit ... In the rainy season this year, households, producing and trading coffee enterprises has intercroped over 1,000 hectares of new coffee plantation.

 In fact, the intercropping coffee with perennial trees in the Cư M’gar, Krông Búk, Krông Năng, Krông Pắk, Cư Kuin districts not only help farmers increase income from 20 to 50% compared with monoculture coffee growers but also improve the climate condition in the garden, enhance soil fertility, limit erosion, leaching, organic content in the soil increased from 24 to 26%.

According to the scientists, diversity plants in the coffee plantation are also help to maintain the sustainable development. The intercropping trees have function as shade trees, windbreak trees, limit the development and spread of pests, reduce the burden of irrigation for coffee plantations in the dry season.

Currently, there are over 200.000 hectares coffee iin Dak Lak, in which the harvested coffee are about 195.000ha with annual output reached 430,000 tons coffee bean or more. However, the area has grown coffee shade trees, intercropping plants in the province is very low, only 32% of the coffee area.

Source: According to TTXVN/Vietnam