Dak Lak (VNA)🅘 - The eighth edition of the national Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival will be held in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak from March 10-14, 2023 after two postponements in 2021 and 2022 due to COVID-19.

The festival is scheduled to take place in the provincial capital city – Buon Ma Thuot – and several other districts under the theme “Dak Lak – A destination of world coffee.” It aims to popularise Buon Ma Thuot coffee trademark, develop Vietnamese specialty coffee, gradually turning Buon Ma Thuot into a destination of world coffee, contributing to raising the value and affirming the position of Vietnamese coffee in the world market.

Expanding scale of coffee festival

It will feature a series of events, including an opening ceremony, a provincial investment promotion conference, a coffee trade fair, a seminar on the development of coffee industry, a business-matching seminar and photo exhibitions on Vietnam’s coffee culture and the worldwide history of coffee.

Additionally, there will be music performances, a street carnival, competitions for coffee farmers and baristas, a video-making contest on Buon Ma Thuot coffee and one for handicrafts made from coffee trees.

The event aims to promote coffee produced in Buon Ma Thuot and honour coffee growers and businesses.

Buon Ma Thuot is home to some of the finest coffee in Vietnam. Coffee was first cultivated in Vietnam in 1857.

ℱ Dubbed as the coffee capital of Vietnam, Dak Lak has the largest farming area of around 210,000 hectares with annual output of more than 520,000 tonnes.

Affirming position of Vietnamese specialty coffee

According to a project on the development of Vietnamese specialty coffee for 2021-2030 approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), specialty coffee is to be cultivated in eight provinces, including Dien Bien, Son La, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Lam Dong and Quang Tri. The total cultivated area is nearly 19,000ha. During 2021-2025, mechanisms, policies and brands for Vietnamese specialty coffee will be formed while production process of Vietnamese specialty coffee will be issued. The total farming area will be 11,500 ha with an output of nearly 5,000 tonnes. During 2026-2030, mechanisms, policies and brands will be perfected. The total farming area will reach 19,000ha with an output of about 11,000 tonnes. The project aims to develop Vietnamese specialty coffee industry amid global integration to meet rising demand in domestic and foreign markets while improving competitiveness of the Vietnamese coffee in the world. The MARD targeted building standards for Vietnamese specialty coffee. The State budget gives priority to the selection of varieties; the process of cultivation, processing, preservation and processing of specialty coffee products; technological transfer, workforce training, trade promotion, market expansion; building ofinfrastructure for coffee research institutions. The MARD will choose varieties, build a process of cultivating, preservation and processing of specialty coffee, step up mechanisation and automation in processing and increase market shares of roasted and ground coffee for domestic market and instant coffee using modern technology (cold-dried). It will hold workforce training courses to raise awareness of specialty coffee growers; train producers, businesses and cooperatives of specialty coffee in primary and deep processing, preservation and brewing; train a contingent of sci-tech staff in variety selection and breeding, build a process of intensive farming, preservation and processing for specialty coffee, and train a team of world-class coffee tasting team. The ministry will also strengthen linkage between producers and roasters, processors and consumers of specialty coffee. The State will assist enterprises in trademark building and market expansion via trade promotion programmes. The Vietnamese specialty coffee competitions will also be held annually on a national scale, which will be gradually expanded on the scale of the region and the world, thus creating a playground for the specialty coffee value chain./.