Page 40 - Agricultural innovation

For coffee growers income has increased markedly. Mr. Y Ty Byă (born in 1968, Ede ethnic group)
in Pu Hue village, Ea Ktur commune, one of the sustainable coffee farmers under the NESCAFÉ Plan,
said that he is currently cultivating 1.7ha of coffee (800 trees were replanting) intercropped with 500
pepper trees. The model of coffee intercropped with pepper with a density of 3 rows of coffee interlaced
with 2 pepper bands. His family obtained 4.2 tons of coffee and 2.5 tons of pepper, of which the profit
from the 2021–2022 crop year increased by 220% compared to the 2019–2020 crop. Previously, he was
like many farmers in Ea Ktur grow coffee in the traditional way, often abuse fertilizers and chemical
pesticides that make the soil degraded, plants are susceptible to diseases and then die. Therefore,
production output is not stable, leading to uncertain income.

Figure 11. Coffe garden of regenerative agriculture model
Source: Nescafe

In 2014, participating in the NESCAFÉ Plan program, he was supported with scientific and
technical training to grow coffee sustainably and buy new coffee varieties for replanting. When
switching to regenerative agriculture, coffee growers have knowledge about bio-weeding. The twigs
and dry leaves of trees that were previously collected and burned are now spread in the garden, to
prevent weeds from growing, and when they rot, they will create humus to improve soil fertility. In
addition, they also know how to make microbial fertilizers from coffee husks and grounds. Growing
coffee and pepper in this way saves investment costs, healthy crops, increases productivity and income.
Especially, in the current situation of double increasing of fertilizer prices, the regenerative agriculture
model helps farmers reduce costs a lot. Moreover, through the connection of sustainable agricultural
product consumption, every year, Nestlé buys 20–25% of Vietnam’s coffee output for deep processing
for domestic consumption and export. In order to connect more closely with farmers, NESCAFÉ Plan
experts have also applied FARMS software to manage live data of each farm to provide timely support
to each household. The software also creates a database of best farming practices for each farmer so
that other farmers can learn and apply on their coffee farm.

Agricultural Innovation Review in CLV Countries 33