Page 87 - Agricultural innovation

purchases higher than the market price of 3.000 VND/kg for household members), science and
technology transfer, support to build solar drying houses, promote preliminary processing and
processing, contribute to improving product value and family income.
Currently, with the help of experts, the cooperative is actively guiding people to apply science and
technology to planting, caring and preliminarily processing coffee, gradually developing production
according to VietGAP process, organic production, reducing dependence on natural conditions,
ensuring sustainable production development. At the same time, with the help and guidance of the
authorities, the cooperative is completing the procedures to be granted a certificate of geographical
indication and build a brand name for the product.

5.10.3. Opportunities and challenges
Thanks to the suitable climate and soil, Arabica coffee trees grown on basalt red soil in hills above
1,000 m high with a temperature difference of 10 C day and night make the coffee taste sweet and
o
retain its natural flavor. Currently, Chieng Chung commune has nearly 700 hectares of coffee, of
which about 450 hectares are for fruit harvest. Coffee is a key crop that brings income and is the
main driving force behind the new rural construction program in the commune. As a result, the
ARA–Tay cooperative has good conditions for raw materials to produce specialty coffee. At the same
time, the cooperative also received a lot of support from individuals, goveronmental departments,
mass organizations, local authorities to create favorable conditions for linkage between production
and consumption phases. Cooperative members have the opportunity to participate in many training
courses on coffee growing, care and processing techniques, visit and learn experience in producing
and processing specialty coffee.
However, cooperatives also face many difficulties such as:

• Coffee trees have been planted for decades, so many orchards tend to be old and have
low productivity.
• Farmers still have the habit of collecting both green and ripe berries, making it difficult for
cooperatives to process high-quality coffee that requires 100% ripe fruit to achieve enough sugar.
In order to pick such ripe fruits, people have to pick them one by one and spend a lot of effort.
Changing the habit of picking all beans to picking only ripen ones is a long process.
• The cooperative has only been in operation for more than two years, so there are still many
difficulties in the organization and operation, lack of specialized machinery and equipment for
production. This also limits the cooperative’s output of high-quality processed coffee.
• ARA–Tay coffee brand is still new in the market, so the competition is still limited. Coffee
prices in the market are not stable. Currently, the new cooperative’s customers are mainly the
domestic market.

5.10.4. Conclusions
Since ARA–Tay cooperative produces specialty coffee, farmers have chance to tast differently on
“natural flavor with rich red color, fragrant fermented fruit flavor with sweet aftertaste”. From only
occasionally drinking instant coffee, now the women in the cooperative and their relatives here can
taste and know the quality of their own coffee. In the past, when thinking about drinking coffee, people
often thought that coffee was very bitter and did not want to drink it, but when enjoying coffee made
by themselves, they were surprised when they clearly felt the flavors in the coffee, “sweet, mildly bitter”
and rich in fruit flavors. Because of that, the Thai women here are more passionate about growing and
processing coffee. People rated “coffee here has brown cockroach wings, clear water, aroma, sour taste,

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