More for less: improving groundwater use for increased coffee production in Vietnam

Vietnam’s coffee boom and the threat from water insecurity

Vietnam is the world’s largest producer of Robusta coffee. In 2016, around 1.8 million tonnes of coffee beans worth more than US$ 3.0 billion were exported, supporting the livelihoods of 2.5 million Vietnamese across the supply chain. In economic value, coffee ranks amongst the country’s highest valued export products.

Around 40% of Vietnam’s Robusta coffee comes from Dak Lak province in the Central Highlands.  Most coffee is produced by individual smallholder male and female farmers using intensive farming methods. Dak Lak’s rich, well-drained volcanic soils are prized for growing coffee and other high-value cash crops. Coffee farms extend across 260,000 of the province’s 480,000 hectares of agricultural...