Jackfruit coffee in Huong Hoa has a good harvest and good price.

At this time, coffee growers in Huong Hoa district are urgently harvesting their jackfruit coffee crop with great enthusiasm. This year's jackfruit coffee crop is considered a bumper harvest, with both a good yield and good prices.

Jackfruit coffee in Huong Hoa is having a good harvest and fetching good prices.

Harvesting jackfruit coffee in Huong Phung commune, Huong Hoa district - Photo: LA

According to Mr. Van Viet Long's family in Huong Phu village, Huong Phung commune, who have nearly 500 jackfruit coffee trees aged 5-15 years intercropped with Arabica coffee on an area of 3 hectares, the purchase price of jackfruit coffee has never been as high as this year.

Specifically, while last year his family only sold fresh coffee cherries for 5,000-6,000 VND/kg, this year, even at the beginning of the season, traders have already approached them to purchase at prices ranging from 12,000-13,000 VND/kg, with dried cherries reaching over 35,000 VND/kg. Even more encouraging is that this year his family's coffee plantation is expected to yield over 6 tons of fresh cherries. With current selling prices, he anticipates a profit of approximately 60 million VND after deducting expenses.

According to Mr. Long, the jackfruit coffee tree is mainly planted by people to act as windbreaks and shade trees for their coffee and tea plantations; the cost of care and fertilization is negligible. Another advantage is that the jackfruit coffee fruits ripen in a concentrated manner, making harvesting easy; all that's needed is to spread a tarp under the tree and use a ladder to harvest them all at once.

The jackfruit coffee variety was sourced by him from Dak Lak province. This hybrid variety produces larger, easier-to-harvest fruits compared to the traditional local jackfruit coffee variety. On average, a jackfruit coffee tree yields 30-70 kg of fresh fruit, depending on its age; exceptionally, trees over 15 years old can yield over 100 kg of fresh fruit.

According to Mr. Long, the entire Huong Phu village has over 100 households growing jackfruit coffee trees, some of which specialize in cultivation with an area of 1-1.5 hectares, yielding an average harvest of 3-3.5 tons of fresh fruit per household.

“The jackfruit coffee tree is easy to grow, easy to care for, low-cost, drought-tolerant, and harvesting is not as laborious as with the tea coffee tree. The harvesting season also coincides with hot, sunny weather, making it convenient for drying the fruit. If the selling price remains stable as it is now, I will continue planting more jackfruit coffee trees in my garden to provide shade and windbreaks for the tea coffee trees, while also generating a stable income,” Mr. Long said.

This year, Mr. Ho Doanh's family in But Viet village has nearly 1 hectare of coffee trees planted in a concentrated area, currently ready for harvest. These days, the coffee is ripening simultaneously, and prices are high, so his family has temporarily put aside all other work to focus on harvesting. The trees are in their prime, so he expects to harvest over 20 tons of fresh fruit this season.

Currently, the price of jackfruit coffee purchased by traders at the farm is between 11,500 and 13,500 VND/kg, depending on the quality of the fruit. After deducting expenses, his family earned a profit of over 150 million VND from this coffee crop. According to Mr. Doanh, jackfruit coffee is a traditional crop in the area, capable of withstanding drought, easy to care for, and suitable for the local soil and climate conditions.

However, for a long time, due to low yields and unstable prices, people switched to growing coffee, tea, and other crops. "This year's coffee harvest is bountiful; almost every orchard around here has achieved high yields. The purchase price has reached a record high, and sales are very easy; traders are buying up everything we produce," Mr. Doanh happily said.

Ms. Ho Thi Ly, owner of Arafarm Hoang Luan Garden in Xa Ry village, Huong Phung commune, said that since the beginning of the season, her facility has purchased over 20 tons of ripe coffee beans, requiring 100% red ripeness. The purchase price is also higher than the market price by 2,000 VND/kg. After purchase, the coffee beans are washed, impurities are removed, and they are left to ferment for about 1-2 days, depending on the pH level of the beans.

The beans are then dried on drying racks or milled depending on customer requirements for Natural or Honey processing. The price of green coffee beans supplied to the market is approximately 200,000 VND/kg. According to Ms. Ly, jackfruit coffee has very special characteristics and flavor. The beans are golden, shiny, and beautiful, with a sweet licorice-like taste, a subtle aroma similar to jackfruit, and a slightly astringent taste. Depending on the roasting technique, jackfruit coffee beans will produce different aromas.

This type of coffee suits the taste of Europeans. Therefore, in addition to supplying the domestic market, some customers from the Netherlands and South Korea have come to enjoy and place orders. "We expect to purchase another 15-20 tons of jackfruit coffee from now until the end of the season," Ms. Ly said.

According to Ho Quoc Trung, Deputy Head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Huong Hoa district, the Catimor coffee tree was first introduced to Huong Hoa by the French. Although it possesses characteristics such as drought tolerance, high resistance to pests and diseases, and larger fruits and beans compared to Arabica coffee, its low yield and unstable prices led people to switch to growing the Catimor Arabica coffee variety.

In recent years, people in some communes such as Huong Phung, Huong Son, Huc... have started to cultivate this crop again. Besides some areas dedicated to monoculture, it is mainly grown in a scattered manner in home gardens, intercropped between coffee and tea plantations to provide shade and windbreaks, with a spacing of 5-7 meters between trees. The estimated area for dense cultivation is approximately 400-500 hectares.

Mr. Trung said that at this time, the jackfruit coffee trees are in the main harvesting season, with prices ranging from 12,500 to 13,500 VND/kg of fresh fruit, and an estimated yield of 17 tons of fresh fruit per hectare. This is an exceptionally high price compared to previous years.

To improve coffee quality and ensure efficient harvesting, processing, and consumption, Huong Hoa district has directed local authorities to intensify propaganda and encourage people not to harvest unripe coffee beans, ensuring that the percentage of ripe coffee beans harvested is over 90%.

At the same time, people are advised not to rush into planting jackfruit coffee trees just because of the high purchase prices. Choose coffee varieties that are suitable for the soil and weather, and have a clear origin to ensure the quality of the crop.

"The district's view is to continue maintaining the area of jackfruit coffee in the locality. This will be combined with focused care to improve productivity and harvest yield. We will also seek sustainable markets and stable prices for this crop to ensure income for the people."

At the same time, there should be policies to encourage and support people to expand the area under the agro-forestry model, intercropping in coffee, tea, and passion fruit gardens to serve as windbreaks. "Careful research on the market and consumption of coffee beans is necessary; we shouldn't just plant in bulk when prices are high and then cut them down when prices fall," Mr. Trung noted.

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