Aeroco Coffee – Specialty coffee from a different production method

With a different and highly efficient production method, coffee product of Aeroco farm in Cao Thanh village (Ea Kao Commune, Buon Ma Thuot City) was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Provincial People’s Committee in “Vietnam Amazing Cup 2020” with 3 valuable awards: “Most favorite Arabica coffee product”, “Most favorite Robusta coffee product” and First prize of “Arabica coffee product”. Currently, the farm’s finished coffee products have been ordered by several countries.

Mr. Le Dinh Tu, the farm owner, shared that biodiversity design in the coffee garden is a highly effective production method, which has now been replicated by many farmers inside and outside the province.

Accordingly, the garden is designed in 4 floors: The top layer is shade river tamarind tree with small canopy and sparse leaves, enough for light to pass through the lower layers for photosynthesis. Wood from river tamarind tree is in group III, with high strength and elasticity for furniture production. Trunk of river tamarind tree is used as a living pillar for growing pepper. The second layer is intercropped with fruit trees, bringing a regular source of income for short-term farming. The third layer is the main coffee crop with varieties with high yield and quality. The density of coffee trees is less than usual, it is able to harvest from 8-10 tons of fresh coffee/ha. The bottom layer is vegetation (grass and dry, decayed leaves) enough to cover the soil, which creates porosity for the coffee root system to absorb nutrients, limits leaching and evaporation in the dry season, and provides organic nutrients for garden plants.

The coffee production garden located in a closed farm can also take advantage of wastewater generated from the coffee processing stage. The wastewater is processed and then provides nutrients for the crops. Biodiversity design helps coffee gardens bring total income many times higher than that earned from current conventional coffee production.

For example, Mr. Pham Van Dong – one of the households associated with Aeroco coffee farm, currently has a total revenue of more than 260 million VND per year on a 1.3-hectare coffee garden. After deducting expenses, he makes a net profit of more than 140 million VND/ha.

In order to have typical and high-quality coffee products, in addition to the production stage on the garden according to the above-mentioned method, Aeroco farm also implements stages such as: harvesting with a high ripening rate; selecting, preliminarily processing, drying with strict time for each type of coffee product that ordering units request; processing, analysis and evaluation of product quality. Even the marketing stage to connect with customers on the basis of market research and strategy, product supply plan… is a chain of activities in which each stage in the chain must be properly invested. In the situation that the COVID-19 epidemic makes it difficult for export activities, Aeroco farm also focuses on investing in research to create high-quality typical coffee products meeting the needs of the domestic market in parallel with market connection research activities in fastidious countries.

It is known that, in addition to the coffee area (of 7.5 ha) associated with Aeroco farm that has been granted the Rainforest Alliance Certificate in Buon Ma Thuot City for many years, the unit is also associating 10 hectares of coffee production with some households in Ea Tan Commune, Krong Nang District. All coffee products of associated farmers will be guaranteed for offtake with the price of fresh coffee many times higher than the market price (14,000 VND/kg of fresh coffee). In addition, the unit also associates Arabica coffee production under forest canopy with some ethnic people in Mang Den Town, Kon Plong District (Kon Tum Province), where the altitude is 1,200 m above sea level, with the expectation of creating high quality coffee products; fresh coffee is guaranteed for offtake at the price of 23,000 VND/kg, bringing income of 150-200 million VND/ha to farmers here.

Dak Lak Newspaper