Towards Deforestation-Free Coffee Production

SGGPO 08/24/2023 17:01

On August 24, in Da Lat City, the National Agricultural Extension Center organized a seminar on community agricultural extension in coffee production without causing deforestation.

The discussion was held in the context of the European Council having just passed regulations that will ban the import of agricultural products including coffee, palm oil, soybeans, wood and wooden products, cattle, cocoa, and rubber from countries and territories where the production process is carried out on land originating from deforestation and forest degradation (EUDR).

Coffee garden planted under pine forest in Lam Dong . Photo: DOAN KIEN

According to the Forestry Department, from 2020 to present, in Vietnam, the area of natural forests has decreased by 3,166 hectares due to forest fires, deforestation, illegal logging, partly due to people switching to agriculture and growing industrial crops, including coffee.

At the seminar, many solutions were proposed to enhance support for accurate mapping and clearly identify each coffee growing area. These are the conditions that help businesses have a basis to comply with EU market regulations.

Scene of the discussion. Photo: DOAN KIEN

Currently, many items exported from Vietnam to the EU reach 2.3 billion Euros, including coffee (47.5%), wood (35.2%), and rubber (17.1%).

Mr. Le Quoc Thanh, Director of the National Agricultural Extension Center, said that we must take immediate action to ensure that coffee production does not cause deforestation in order to avoid another "yellow card" from the European Commission on land, as happened with seafood.

New European Council regulations require that products must not be produced from deforestation, must be legal under the law of the country of manufacture and must have an assessment report.

Time of commencement of application of the regulation::

- For large corporations that produce and process the above products in Vietnam, from December 2024;

- For small and medium enterprises, from June 2025.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/huong-den-san-xuat-ca-phe-khong-gay-mat-rung-post702898.html