WATER FOOTPRINT OF COFFEE PRODUCTION:Vietnam’s coffee set to get a boost from smarter irrigation

Chu Thai Hoanh and Upali Amarasinghe

DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE

Excessive irrigation endangers water availability

Vietnam is the world’s leading Robusta coffee producer

generating annual revenues of over $1 bil and supporting

rural livelihoods of over 2 million people

Dak Lak province contributes 40% to national coffee

production; irrigation from January and April is critical to

make coffee economically viable

57% of irrigation is abstracted from groundwater, and 95%

of that is used for coffee

Irrigation in Dak Lak exploits over 70% of the province’s

groundwater resources

SCIENCE

Water stress is not bad for coffee

Estimate of crop water requirement based on FAO: Jan-Apr: 529 mm (rainfall satisfies 21%)

But records of some 300 farmers in 2005-2009 suggest that they only applied under 260 mm in Jan-Apr; (rainfall satisfies 21%)

Some applied more, but net marginal profit becomes negative beyond 400 mm of water inputs from Jan-Apr

Monthly rain and CWU in Dak Lak

SCIENCE

Optimized irrigation scheduling required

Farm records in 2005-2009:

- higher water stress levels help reach 3-4 tons/ha

- optimal irrigation scheduling is required to break the 4 tons/ha barrier

- in average rainfall year, about 150 mm (455 liter/plant/irrigation round x 3 rounds) from January to April is sufficient (each round is 20-25 days)

- in high rainfall year, about 80 - 120 mm (300 liter/plant/irrigation round x 3 rounds) is adequate

By better scheduling irrigation, it is possible to reduce groundwater withdrawals without effect on coffee yield

OUTPUTS

A policy brief on “Vietnam to Produce More Coffee with Less Water” – currently reviewed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

A report accepted by SDC and Nestle, and a paper in review in J. of Agricultural Systems

A national workshop with results well received by participants from private sector, farmers, government officers and researchers

PARTNERS

Nestle and SDC: funding and review the research

IWMI: methodology, training on survey to WASI, data analysis and reporting

EDE Consulting, Germany: collecting long-records data, data analysis and reporting

Western Highlands Agro-forestry, Sciences and Technical Institute (WASI), Vietnam: interactions with farmers, data collection and analysis

Boundary partners: Department of Crop Production (DCP) and National Agricultural Extension Center (NAEC) of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD, Vietnam): dissemination of findings to farmers and incorporating into coffee development guidelines

Policy dialogue for implementing recommendations81 participants (45 from private sector, 17 government officers, 8 farmers

& 11 researchers)

Evidence: Good Morning News on Vietnamese TV in October 2013, with English sub-titles

OUTCOME

OUTCOME

“Nestlé will implement the recommended

best practices within its Farmer Connect

network of 12,000 farmers and will work

with other key local stakeholders for wider

dissemination and scale up.”

If this practice is widely adopted, it will

ensure sustainability of GW use in the

province and larger VN

Read more and watch a 7 min video in English:

http://www.nestle.com/csv/case-studies/AllCaseStudies/coffee-water-vietnam

LESSONS AND NEXT STEPS

Systematic analysis of farmers’ records could provide useful insights into agricultural practices

Private sector is active in adoption of research and has good networks to disseminate findings to large number of farmers

Continue collaboration with Nestle and SDC in the next phase of coffee water footprint, possibly covering all VN

Use successful examples (like this) of collaboration between CG Centers and private sector) to foster future collaboration

THANK YOU !

There are some 25 mil coffee farmers in the world…