Vietnam Coffee Day... not in Nghe An
(Baonghean.vn) - Since 2016, the Government has chosen December 10 every year as Vietnam Coffee Day - this is the day Uncle Ho visited Dong Hieu Farm (December 10, 1961). That is the meaning, but in Nghe An, where there used to be large coffee plantations or vast coffee farms, now there are no coffee trees...
Pioneer's mark
According to historical records, from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, when occupying Indochina (the three countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia), the French colonialists carried out the first colonial exploitation (1897 - 1914). During this time, the French colonialists focused on exploiting and establishing many plantations in the regions of Bac Ky, Trung Ky, and Tay Nguyen. Without exception,Phu Quy areaWith red basalt soil with high nutritional content, it has become the chosen area to develop large coffee and rubber plantations.
In a short time, French plantation owners and a few pro-French Vietnamese, with the effective support of the protectorate government, occupied about 15,498 hectares of land and established many coffee plantations here. At this time, coffee from the plantations here was mainly exported to France under the brand name "Arabica du Tonkin" (Arabica Coffee from Tonkin), and the quality was considered equivalent to that of coffee from Brazil and Colombia.
After the success of the August Revolution, the plantations were handed over to the revolutionary government and were collectively called the Plantation Management Board. At the end of 1947, the Plantation Management Board changed its name to Nghe An Migrant Reclamation Department and in 1949 changed it to Phu Quy National Plantation Camp.
The person who made great contributions to the development of the Phu Quy coffee region right after the French plantation owners and pro-French Vietnamese fled was Professor Ngo Van Hoang (died in 2013). He was originally from Phu Yen, graduated from the Indochina Agricultural School in 1944 and from 1945, he followed the revolution, accompanying the two long resistance wars of the nation. Almost his entire life was attached to the Western region of Nghe An, especially in the red basalt soil of Phu Quy.
Engineer Le Dinh Dinh - a colleague who has worked with Professor Ngo Van Hoang for many years at the Tay Hieu Tropical Plant Experiment Station (under the Industrial Crops Institute - Ministry of Agriculture), now the Phu Quy Fruit and Industrial Crops Research Center, from the early days of taking over the French plantations, recounted: In 1946, Professor Ngo Van Hoang was a member of the Ministry of Agriculture assigned by the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to take over the French plantations that had fled, to establish the Phu Quy National Farm Enterprise, the predecessor of many state-owned agricultural and forestry farms later. The task of the Phu Quy National Farm Enterprise at that time was to organize the management and restoration of abandoned coffee gardens that French plantation owners, or Vietnamese plantation owners who were pro-French, had left behind, for harvesting.
Here, Professor Ngo Van Hoang briefly taught at the Inter-Zone 4 Agricultural College, which was evacuated from Hue to Yen Tam Hill (belonging to Dong Hieu Farm). After a period of being transferred under the assignment of the Ministry of Agriculture, when the North entered the period of building Socialism, being a solid rear base for the battlefield in the South, Professor Ngo Van Hoang returned to Phu Quy to take charge of Tay Hieu Farm in the early years of construction.
At this time, he realized that there was a need for a scientific and technical agency to research and apply science and technology in charge of economic development. On the occasion of a delegation of experts from the German Democratic Republic coming to work, he expressed the idea of establishing a Tropical Plant Institute and was supported by the experts. After that, the Tay Hieu Tropical Plant Experiment Station was established (April 1960) and Professor Ngo Van Hoang was assigned as the first Director.
With coffee trees, through studying documents of French agronomists on Indochina agriculture, after the establishment of the Tay Hieu Tropical Plant Experimental Station, Professor Ngo Van Hoang and his colleagues directly searched for abandoned, wild Arabica coffee trees in the Bo Trach area (Quang Binh), one of the places where the French first brought coffee trees to grow. During the years 1960-1961, the staff of the Tay Hieu Tropical Plant Experimental Station traveled to old coffee plantations such as Tien Sinh, Nai Sinh (Phu Quy); Vuc Rong, Ha Suu (Tan Ky); Phuc Do (Thanh Hoa), Ghenh, Huu Vien (Ninh Binh); Chi Ne (Ha Nam) ... to find Arabica coffee tree genes, to research and develop coffee varieties suitable for the climate and soil conditions in this red basalt land.
At one point, the Tay Hieu Tropical Plant Experiment Station and later the Phu Quy Fruit and Industrial Plant Research Center researched a group of 37 varieties and determined that Catimor coffee was a suitable variety for the Phu Quy area. It was then grown en masse on many farms, most notably Tay Hieu and Dong Hieu.
For a long time, coffee has been identified as a key industrial crop of Nghe An. In particular, in more than 13,400 hectares of red basalt soil in Phu Quy area, there were times when more than 7,000 hectares were used to grow coffee. At one point, the coffee area was expected to be expanded to 9,400 hectares or 10,000 hectares to produce 9,300 tons to 10,000 tons of coffee beans...
“Absent” Coffee Day in Nghe An
During the period when state-owned farms were most vibrantly developed, a major event took place in Phu Quy land. On December 10, 1961, during his second visit to his hometown, Uncle Ho visited Dong Hieu Farm, one of the typical state-owned economic models in the North at that time. Here, he visited coffee lot 119 on Nai Sinh coffee hill and visited a number of other livestock models.
The event of Uncle Ho visiting Dong Hieu Farm at that time had a great influence on Dong Hieu Farm in particular and Nghia Dan district in general. Because this showed the attention of the Party and Government to the state-owned economic model at Dong Hieu Farm. This was a worthy recognition for the efforts of the farm's cadres and workers, but at the same time it was also an act of encouragement and motivation for not only the cadres and workers of Dong Hieu Farm but also cadres and workers of other construction sites, and farmers of Nghia Dan district to make more efforts in the cause of building socialism.
It is also from this meaningful event that on July 29, 2016, the Prime Minister issued Decision 6306/VPCP-KTN, choosing December 10 every year as Vietnam Coffee Day. Every year, on this day, many localities across the country enthusiastically organize Coffee Festivals, which also becomes an effective opportunity to promote tourism associated with this long-standing beverage.
However, the sad thing is that although Vietnam Coffee Day was born on the basis of a major historical event associated with the land of Phu Quy in Nghe An, currently, coffee trees have disappeared from farms, from Tay Hieu to Dong Hieu. Accordingly, the coffee tree area at its peak was more than 7,000 hectares, which began to decrease to 500 hectares in 2005-2006 and to more than 100 hectares in 2012-2013, and is now almost gone.
There are many reasons for the disappearance of coffee trees in Nghe An, most of which are due to pests, low productivity and the replacement of other crops such as rubber, oranges, cassava, sugarcane, etc. with higher economic value. Even limitations in management, changes in organization, through mergers and restructuring of farms, etc. have also affected the development of coffee trees.
Mr. Ngo Hoang Khanh - Head of the Department of Technical Management - Science and Technology, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development shared: Currently, in the planning of industrial crop development in the province, coffee trees are no longer included in the planning, because there have been replacements of many other crops with higher productivity, output and economic value. In addition, because coffee trees after a long time are infected with many types of pests and diseases, especially root diseases, causing productivity to decrease. If you want to replant, it will take at least 3-5 years after crop rotation to ensure that there are no more pests and diseases harmful to coffee trees.
Restoring coffee trees in Phu Quy land is also very difficult, because it depends on many factors, from investment, care, and product output. If production is only to sell raw products, it is not effective, while investing in a closed production chain, no investor has enough potential to participate...
Not to mention, on April 2, 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Decision 1392/QD-BNN-TT approving the Project on developing Vietnamese specialty coffee for the period 2021-2030. The viewpoint of this Project is to develop specialty coffee on lands with suitable natural, economic and social conditions to bring the best quality coffee. During this period, specialty coffee is oriented to develop in 8 provinces: Dien Bien, Son La, Quang Tri, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong and absolutely not in Nghe An.
