Visit to Vietnam 11th to 13th March 2012

Transcription

1 Visit to Vietnam 11th to 13th March 2012 March 26, 2012

2 Our objective of the trip as follows: 1. To visit the CAA/NLU cocoa project. The visit covers Ben Tre, Dong Nai and Baria VungTau region in Vietnam 2. To review the progress and the spending of the CAA/NLU cocoa project with Dr. Phuoc, soliciting feedback, understanding the challenges faced by the project team to ensure the smooth implementation of the project and meet the objectives as outlined in the MoU. Overview: Presently, there are approximately 20,000 hectares under cocoa cultivation in Vietnam. The major cocoa growing areas are located around BenTre, Dong Nai, Baria-VungTau and Dak Lak. Yield per hectare per active farm is around 0.5 to 1.5mt. Some of the cocoa growing area is intercropped with coconut and other agricultural crops such as pepper. In 2011, Vietnam exported about 1,500mt of cocoa beans. Ben Tre: We visited one of the cocoa demonstration farms set up and under the supervision of Dr. Phuoc. Improvement made to the farm was very visible following our last visit. The farm was well managed with drip irrigation, good insecticide control, application of proper farming techniques as trained by Dr. Phuoc and his project team. The farm also applied fertilizer. Per Dr. Phuoc s comment, the fertilizer used may not be suitable for cocoa due to the lack of suitable fertilizer available. At present, most fertilizer shop in Vietnam carry the formula (Nitrogen-Phosphate-Potassium) and with been the most popular type that farmers buy. The correct formula according to Dr Phuoc should be But such formula is not found in any fertilizer shop in Vietnam. Given that cocoa is not a significant crop yet in Vietnam, fertilizer companies are not keen to introduce such product at the moment, creating a Catch-22. Even if companies are keen to introduce a suitable product, it will take at least a year to get governmental approval. If farmers invest in the use of the wrong type of fertilizer, they will not see the optimal result in the yield. This will in turn create a vicious cycle of them feeling discouraged and switching to other crops that yield better using the existing type of fertilizer in the market.

3 Yield per hectare for this season for the farm we visited has improved significantly from 0.5 Mt/ha to about 1 MT/ha. Peak crop period for the region is September to November and May- June is the rainy season. Dr. Phuoc and his team had conducted training for the cocoa farmers using this as a model farm and more training are being planned in the coming months.

4 Baria-VungTau & Dong Nai: Farms we visited in Baria-VungTau were less impressive than BenTre. The training in this area has just started and progress made is less visible. One of the farms we visited, we saw more black-pod and pest present on the farms due to the high humidity in that region and a high density of cross crops. Dr Phuoc has started to introduce insectide control using black ants. Baria-Vung Tau is also a major pepper & rubber producing area. The prevailing pepper price is almost 3 times higher price than cocoa ( dong/kg for pepper versus dong/kg for cocoa) and the yield per hectare for pepper is about twice the average cocoa yield. So farmers have little incentive to increase their cocoa plantings or devote more attention to this crop. We visited a local cocoa collector, who runs a cocoa nursery. This time round, his is putting more focus into cocoa buying and very little attention on running the nursery due to the lack of demand of cocoa seedlings. Conclusion and final observations: 1. Based on the project review with Dr Phuoc and also visit to the farms, we can see improvement on the farms we had visited. The training provided by Dr. Phuoc and his team is gradually making some impact on the farmers. However, it takes time and effort as learning is a life long process. 2. Dr. Phuoc is doing his best to educate as many farmers as possible. However, with the limited resources, he needs one additional headcount so that he can cover a wider area and increase the frequency of training. Presently, Dr. Phuoc has only one person to help in the farmer training. He will make a budget for this after which he will ask the CAA for approval. 3. In reviewing the project and its spending, we are satisfied that the project team has met the objective as stated in the MoU. 4. The lack of suitable fertilizer is a key concern. This may impact the output yield which in turn may provide less incentive for the farmers to cultivate cocoa vis-à-vis against other crops like pepper and rubber. 5. As such, Dr Phuoc s training program remains crucial for a successful cocoa production in Vietnam. 6. Last but not least, we have suggested to Dr Phuoc to make a budget for a brochure in which he will show the best (yields) practices for cocoa farming. The brochure

5 serves as a hand book and will provide a brief summary from the selection of seedling, best farm practices, proper use of chemicals and pesticides, application of fertilizer, fermentation to quality control. 7. The brochures will then be distributed to cocoa farmers during training and also to be distributed to other farmers within Vietnam. 8. The idea is that the cost of this brochure is to be funded through advertisements by whoever wish to do so (cocoa traders, manufacturers, fertilizer companies etc). Costing for the advertisements will be discussed once we have received Dr Phuoc's budget and draft of the brochure.