Success Stories

Farmer Phan Dinh Tu and his wife bought a 1ha coffee farm 10 years ago in the Gia Lai province of Vietnam. All the work on the coffee farm is shared by them without additional workers. With a love for coffee, Phan Dinh Tu always wanted to learn more about taking care of the trees in the best way and how to produce high-quality coffee. When Vinhhiep Company Limited introduced the 4C certification program for sustainable coffee production in 2017 and the pilot project “Biodiversity Performance Tool (BPT) for Coffee Landscapes in Vietnam” they were very excited to join and have been active participants.

Since joining the project, they have greatly improved the biodiversity of their farm and they actively took part in seminars, trainings and on-farm exchanges. By no longer using pesticides, they have saved up to 6 million VND per year and noticed that birds, insects, and reptiles appear more often. Farmer Phan Dinh Tu likes that the 4C certification program and the biodiversity project improve his health since he is no longer exposed to pesticides and herbicides, and both the coffee and other crops, such as pepper, from his garden are of higher quality.

They now also actively encourage neighboring households not to use herbicides, but increase the use of organic fertilizers instead and apply good farming practices. This year, they rented 3 more hectares of coffee and will continue to apply what they learned about biodiversity in their coffee farm. They also want to further educate surrounding households to learn more from their best practices.

Farmer Dang Thi Xuan was born in 1961. Currently, she lives in Dong Tam village, Bau Kan commune, ChuProng district, Gia Lai province. In the past, she had worked at a Tea Farm in Bau Kan commune, ChuProng district, but in 1995, she and her husband Nguyen Tuan Thanh started to grow coffee in their spare time. In 2010, she retired and stayed at home to take care of the coffee farm with her husband. Currently, the area of her family’s coffee farm is about 2 hectares. Usually, she and her husband take care of the coffee farm alone, just in the harvest season, she hires 2-3 people to help them for a month. Her family has participated in the 4C certification program for 8 years and in a pilot project using the Biodiversity Performance Tool (BPT) for Coffee Landscapes in Vietnam since 2021.

She realizes that her husband and herself have changed a lot from when her family started taking part in the sustainable coffee production program and pilot project to increase biodiversity at their coffee farm. Since being certified under 4C, her family has agreed to not use herbicides and minimize the use of pesticides. With the support from 4C, Vinh Hiep and experts from ADC their awareness and knowledge about biodiversity has also been raised. She and her husband built a map of the current status of biodiversity on their farm to find solutions to enhance biodiversity as well as building an action plan. Now, her coffee farm is more diverse than the ever with some local crops such as Avocado, Durian, Jackfruit and Rambutan with the aim to offer windbreak, shade and food. Besides that, she also planted more trees, managed and pruned branches for rows of Senna siamea, Litsea glutinosa, and Dalbergia tonkinensis Prain.

Along the subdivision and in places where the coffee was not yet covering, she planted Arachis pintoi to cover the soil. She also planted pineapples at the contour lines to both keep the soil and have pineapples to eat. Currently, the trees that he family planted with supported by the project are growing well, with a height of 0.5-2m depending on the type of tree. Since participating in the 4C certification program, and the BPT pilot project, she has protected the vegetation in the buffer zone along streams and ponds with a width of about 50m, so the water source is always abundant, providing water for irrigation of the coffee farm. With direct advice from ADC and Vinh Hiep, Ms. Xuan’s family installed warning signs prohibiting wildlife hunting and fishing in the coffee water source area, so birds, bees and fish are protected. She also limited the use of chemical fertilizers but increased the use of microbial fertilizers made from coffee pods combined with cow dung and other by-products.

Since joining the project, she and her husband actively propagated for other households to learn and apply these practices. However, the biggest difficulty now that she and coffee farming households are facing is that the price of fertilizer materials is 2 times higher than 1 year ago. On the other hand, although the quality of coffee from her family’s coffee farm is rated better than regular coffee, there is no difference in price. A big challenge that she is facing is the coffee farms next door if they have not changed their habits in coffee farming, and abuse pesticides, then her coffee farm will also be affected.

Farmer Le Van Ha and his wife are currently growing 2ha of coffee at Lamua village, Bau Kan commune, ChuProng district, Gia Lai province. As almost all households in Bau Kan commune, coffee is the main income source for his family. Usually, he and his wife work on the coffee farm. They have more than 20 years of experience in coffee production, 10 years in participating in the 4C certification program and more than a year of taking part in the project “Biodiversity Performance Tool (BPT) for Coffee Landscapes in Vietnam”. Since joining the project, Mr. Ha has gained even more knowledge about biodiversity and its role and effects in coffee farms. Mr. Ha has applied suitable biodiversity enhancement solutions to his farm with the support and technical advice of ADC and Vinh Hiep company.

Many different kinds of trees grow on his family’s farm, such as durian, avocado, jackfruit, Senna siamea and Pennisetum purpurrerum, but coffee is the main crop. Pennisetum purpurrerum, jackfruit, and avocado are grown along the subdivision line. They also keep goats on the farm and they use the manure together with coffee pods to create a nutritious organic fertilizer for both the fruit trees and coffee trees. This not only saves them the cost of buying chemical fertilizers, it also loosens and nourishes the soil for the durability of coffee leaves. Besides, his family’s annual income from goat farming accounts for 50% of coffee income. In addition, he also has income from other crops on the coffee farm, accounting for 5-6% of income from coffee.

Since joining the project, he has been an active participant, often sharing his knowledge of sustainable coffee farming and enhancing biodiversity in coffee farms with neighbors and friends. He and other coffee growers in the village self-learned more about biodiversity on the internet, regularly asking Vinh Hiep company and a team of experts from ADC for advice. His friends commented that his farm has changed remarkably: the soil is looser and more fertile, the coffee leaves are greener, the branches are strong, and there are more beneficial insects such as ladybugs, bees, worms, and crickets. Currently, the shading rate in Mr. Ha’s coffee garden is at 3-4%. He is a coffee grower who says no to herbicides, minimizes the use of chemical pesticides, and makes his own organic pesticides from locally available materials such as garlic, locust, ginger, and lemongrass.

He shared that “I follow the direction of sustainable production, enhancing biodiversity is a way for farmers to save themselves, only then can we ensure the health of coffee farmers, If we have to come into contact with pesticides every day, farmers will get sick sooner or later, and coffee drinkers will also get sick, so our mind will not be at peace”.

Even with this knowledge and experience, the implementation of biodiversity in coffee farms on a regional scale will face many challenges such as initial capital needed to invest in buying plants and seeds, and it also takes a lot of time. To raise awareness about biodiversity in a large area with departments, branches, and organizations is necessary. According to Le Van Ha, the support of the consulting unit and Vinh Hiep company is crucial for his success.

Nguyen Anh Vu, born in 1977,  lives in Tam Diep Village, Ho Leng Commune, Dak Doa district, Gia Lai Province. His family complies with sustainable coffee farming techniques according to the 4C standard since 2015. Since early 2021 he also participates in the pilot project “Biodiversity Performance Tool (BPT) for Coffee Landscapes in Vietnam”. With more than 20 years of experience in coffee production on a farm area of 3.5ha, he and his wife take care of their coffee garden every day. At harvest time, he hires 5-10 people to harvest coffee for 1-2 months. In addition to growing coffee as the main crop, he now also grows some native plants such as jackfruit, Tagetes erecta L., pepper, avocado, lemon, orange, mango and coconut. In addition, he also planted new varieties such as macadamia. The fence around his farm is also different from other households, instead of a steel fence, he uses a fence of Kalanchoe pinnata (Lam.) Pers, of which the majority are fortune trees, and help create a beautiful landscape. Such “living fences” are inhabited by animals such as reptiles, birds and insects.

Since joining the program of sustainable coffee farming, he has changed many of his habits. Previously he used herbicides for weeds on the farm, now he uses a lawnmower and uses the grass as fertilizer for the coffee. He observed that when he was using herbicides, as well as chemical pesticides, they destroyed harmful but also beneficial soil organisms, and especailly the coffee branches near the ground carried only little fruit. However, from when he stopped using herbicides (6-7 years ago) and increased the use of microorganic fertilizers made from coffee husks, bagasse and cow dung, the experts from ADC and Vinh Hiep company have found that the soil microbiome at Mr. Vu’s coffee farm has diversified and they observed many organisms such as earthworms, crickets, snails, red ants, and also reptiles such as salamanders and snakes. Previously, in Mr. Vu’s farm, there was termite fungus, a beneficial native fungus in the Central Highlands. “But over the past 10 years, this fungus has almost disappeared in coffee gardens, because people use many herbicides and pesticides” he says. “By saying no to herbicides and enhancing soil protection, applying organic fertilizers and weeds cover the ground , this fungus has reappeared, making me very happy”.

However, he also shared that the difficulties he encountered. It took more care, pruning coffee leaves, cutting grass and applying organic fertilizer rather than chemical fertilizers or herbicides. But comparing the leaves and coffee branches of his garden, the branches are green, strong, and durable, while in other gardens, the leaves and branches are weaker. He also saves the cost of buying chemical fertilizers or pesticides, weed control, and spraying. It is estimated that in 2022, he will save 20 million VND from not buying chemical fertilizers when he makes his own microbial organic fertilizer.  He now wants to spread his knowledge about enhancing biodiversity in coffee farms and sustainable coffee production to neighboring households. He also wants Vinh Hiep company, ADC and 4C to receive a lot of support from other coffee growers in the region to make a big change from the monoculture of coffee trees to intercropping and producing high-quality coffee, so that more people around the world get to know our coffee and learn how Vietnamese farmers cherish and care for their own small coffee garden.