Ho Thanh Van, a farmer in Châu Thành District of Bến Tre Province, his earning from cocoa farming is much higher from that of coconut or longan. (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA/VNS) - Vietnam hasbecome the second Asian country to achieve a fine flavour cocoa (FFC)designation from the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO).
Forty percent of the country’s cocoa exportshave received this designation. Indonesia was the first Asian country toreceive the recognition in 2011, but it applied to only 1 percent of thatcountry’s cocoa exports.
ICCO uses many criteria to assess the quality offine flavour cocoa. Among them are the genetic origin of the planting material,morphological characteristics of the plant, flavour characteristics of thecocoa beans, chemical characteristics of the beans and colour of the beans andnibs.
Other criteria include the degree offermentation, drying, acidity, off-flavours, percentage of internal mould,insect infestation, and percentage of impurities.
Twenty-three countries are included on ICCO’slist of producing countries exporting exclusively FFC or partially FFC beans.
The world cocoa market distinguishes between twobroad categories of cocoa beans – “fine flavour” cocoa beans, and “bulk” or“ordinary” cocoa beans.
According to ICCO, fine flavour cocoa accountsfor about 6 percent of global cocoa exports and their prices are always 5-10percent higher than the floor price at the London and New York markets.
This recognition is good news for the Vietnamesecocoa industry.
In 2013, Puratos Grand-Place Vietnam also won aninternational award for producing the best cocoa in the Asia-Pacific region.
The award was part of the Cocoa of Excellenceprogramme to celebrate the diversity of cocoa flavours from all over the worldand to recognise overall excellence in processing the beans.
Despite some encouraging results, Vietnam’scocoa sector has not enjoyed stable development in the past decade, accordingto the Crop Production Department.
A Government plan until 2020 targeted having35,000ha of cocoa cultivation by 2015 and 50,000ha by 2020.
But the cocoa cultivation area had shrunkdramatically to 11,229 ha last year compared to the peak of 25,700ha in 2012because many farmers have switched to more profitable crops, said Nguyen NhuHien of the department.
Low productivity and price volatility were amongthe key factors affecting farmers, he said.
To encourage cocoa cultivation, PuratosGrand-Place Vietnam, the country’s biggest cocoa buyer, which buys 40 percentof the country’s total cocoa output, has developed a Cacao-Trace programme inwhich it works directly with farmers.
The programme is dedicated to creating long-termsustainable cocoa production and added value for the entire cocoa supply chain,from the farmer to the final consumer, said GrichaSafarian, the company’smanaging director.
The programme provides farmers with agriculturaltraining so they can achieve the best profit; offers them a 40 percent seedlingprice subsidy; and gives farmers 170 USD for every tonne of cocoa the companybuys from them.
“We’re working towards achieving full verticalintegration from cocoa beans to chocolate,” Safarian said.
Ho Thi Thanh Truc, in charge of the company’scocoa development programme, said by applying its “productivity packages”,which combine good seedlings, proper pruning and pest control and fertiliser,farmers can raise annual productivity to three kilos of dried beans per treefrom the current figure of 0.5-0.8 kilos, thus greatly improving their income.
Truc said its Cocoa Development Centre in Ben Treprovince in 2014 trained more than 1,000 cocoa farmers and targets raising thenumber to 3,000 by the end of this year.
Ho Thanh Van, a farmer in Chau Thanh district ofBenTre province who took part in the Cacao-Trace programme, said he planted1,000 cocoa trees under other crops like coconut and longan on 1.2ha of land,with productivity in 2011 reaching five tonnes of fresh fruits (21 kilos offresh fruits offer 1 kilo of dried beans).
In 2011, Puratos applied its “productivitypackages” on Van’s 80 cocoa trees. As a result of increased productivity, Vandecided to apply the packages to 400 trees and had an output of 19 tonnes offresh fruits in 2014. The figure is expected to reach 24 tonnes this year.
Last year, his earnings from cocoa cultivationreached 100 million VND (4,421 USD), much higher from that of coconut orlongan, he said.
More than 2,000 cocoa farmers have participatedin the programme.
With global demand for cocoa increasing, expertsforecast a shortage of one million tonnes by 2020, offering producers,including Vietnam, a great opportunity for export sales.
In Vietnam, cocoa is grown mainly in threeregions: the Central Highlands, the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, and thesoutheastern part of the country.
Cocoa is a commodity surrounded by “healthyclaims” in terms of the presence of anti-oxidant, which add to the attractionof the product to consumers, said Safarian.
“We sincerely hope that Vietnam will not missthat commodity on the map of its development plans as we see a bright futurefor the demand and for the price of cocoa in the next decades"./.
VNA
