Doan Nguyen Duc's Dream

Doing agriculture now without aiming for the four words 'sustainable organic' is... not sustainable. It must be "sustainable organic" right from the first step of soil treatment, then seeds, fertilizers, irrigation water, harvesting, processing and preservation.

Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company, agreed to meet me at 4 pm. And at that exact time, a 7-seat car with red dirt stains on its body stopped in front of the Round House - Ong Bau Coffee Shop, located in the center of the LPBank HAGL Football Academy.

He got out of the car, walked quickly inside and shook my hand. “No filming or photography. I just came back from the garden, dressed casually. If you need any pictures, just let me know, there are many,” he said, seeing the camera already on the table, the video camera also set up.

Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group Joint Stock Company. Photo: HAGL.

Still in the typical style of the billionaire from the "nau" land: Quick and decisive, he went straight to the point when asked about the 10,000 hectare coffee project that Hoang Anh Gia Lai is implementing.

We would like to introduce to readers a conversation between a reporter from Agriculture and Environment Newspaper and Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc.

What is the reason that Hoang Anh Gia Lai chose coffee trees, and with such a large area, sir?

Firstly, Hoang Anh Gia Lai is an agricultural corporation, which started pursuing agriculture in 2008, nearly 20 years ago. During this process, Hoang Anh Gia Lai invested in planting many types of trees such as rubber, oil palm and other trees... There were successes, but also many failures. By 2016, Hoang Anh Gia Lai had restructured, moving to a new direction. But it was still agriculture, focusing on essential trees such as bananas, durian, macadamia, and most recently, coffee.

And why choose coffee? Because it is an essential tree, and especially essential to many countries in the world. The decision to invest in 10,000 hectares of coffee has its own reasons. In the process of farming since 2008, Hoang Anh Gia Lai has also approached and invested in Laos almost as early as possible, knowing very well the policies as well as the land potential of Laos.

Since investing in Laos with 7,000 hectares of bananas, 2,000 hectares of durian, and mulberry... Hoang Anh Gia Lai clearly saw the potential of coffee in this country, specifically in the Boloven plateau, because not every place in Laos can grow coffee.

With the support of the Lao government, Hoang Anh Gia Lai continues to invest in the coffee sector because this is a very suitable land for Arabica coffee trees, because the Boloven plateau is located at an altitude of 1,000 meters or more, with red basalt soil, with climate and soil conditions completely similar to the coffee growing areas in Gia Lai, even better...

A model coffee garden of Eakmat Institute, high quality coffee varieties like this will be transferred to Hoang Anh Gia Lai. Photo: WASI.

With the above advantages, Hoang Anh Gia Lai decided to invest in 10,000 hectares of coffee, of which Laos accounts for 80% and Vietnam accounts for 20%. This plan started in June 2025, up to now 3,000 hectares have been planted, the remaining 7,000 hectares will be implemented in 2026-2027. This is a big project for the group, I think for the Lao government too because the project will create huge jobs for local people. Specifically, 10,000 hectares of coffee will create jobs for over 10,000 direct workers. In short, for Hoang Anh Gia Lai, 10,000 hectares is not too difficult, it is feasible to implement.

One thing is certain: when investing in the 10,000-hectare coffee project, Hoang Anh Gia Lai will follow the direction of sustainable organic production, aiming for the highest certifications that demanding markets are demanding. Can you share more about this issue?

Doing agriculture now without aiming for the four words “sustainable organic” is… not sustainable. It must be “sustainable organic” right from the first step of soil treatment, then seeds, fertilizers, irrigation water, harvesting, processing and preservation.

Mr. Phan Viet Ha, Deputy Director in charge of WASI, said: “The Institute accompanies and will continue to work with Hoang Anh Gia Lai throughout the entire value chain, from varieties, techniques to cultivation processes, aiming to build a model of high-yield, sustainable and widespread coffee development.”

Land is as I said above. As for varieties, Hoang Anh Gia Lai has absolute confidence in the Western Highlands Agricultural and Forestry Science Institute (WASI, commonly known as Eakmat Institute because of its previous name of Eakmat Coffee Research Institute). Because currently in Vietnam, this is the only institute that has been researching coffee for a long time and has been very successful. Recently, Hoang Anh Gia Lai has signed a cooperation agreement with Eakmat Institute, providing 30 million coffee seedlings, enough to plant the remaining 7,000 hectares of the project.

It should also be added that, within the framework of this project, Hoang Anh Gia Lai has planted 3,000 hectares in Paksong district, Champasack province, specifically in the Boloven plateau of Laos.

Speaking of fertilizers, Hoang Anh Gia Lai is currently building 3 organic fertilizer factories, 2 in Laos and 1 in Vietnam. Our strength is that we own a large herd of livestock with pigs, chickens, silkworms... When combined with coffee husks, this will be an endless source of organic fertilizer. Not to mention the 7,000-hectare banana garden will return a huge source of fertilizer to the land.

Technology? The Eakmat Institute has a “big friend”. As for irrigation water, the Boloven Plateau does not have to worry about this. In short, this will be a typical circular agriculture project.

Signing ceremony of transferring 30 million high-quality coffee seedlings and care techniques between Eakmat Institute and Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group. Photo: Dang Lam.

What about the financial resources for the project, sir?

To serve 10,000 hectares of coffee, about 5,000 billion VND is needed, Hoang Anh Gia Lai will mobilize in 3 years, the first year has been completed. The remaining 3,000 billion will be implemented in 2026-2027, this is not difficult at all.

Currently, Hoang Anh Gia Lai's annual profit is from 1,500 to 2,000 billion VND or more. It is expected that in 2025, our profit will reach 1,500 billion, the plan is that by 2026, the profit will reach 2,500 to 3,000 billion, and will continue to increase in 2027.

Thus, the capital to invest in this project is from the profits of previous years, used to reinvest in the following year, completely without using borrowed capital. In short, there are 3 financial options for this project, including from business profits, from the financial market and bank loans.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai will choose the first option and if there is a shortage, it will mobilize the financial market. Loan capital is only a backup option because, in our opinion, investing with loan capital is difficult to be sustainable.

A coffee nursery of Eakmat Institute. Photo: WASI.

To aim for a coffee brand named "Hoang Anh Gia Lai Coffee", it is impossible not to mention the construction of a modern processing factory, sir?

Regarding the construction of processing plants, in the immediate future, in the period of 2026-2027, two factories will be built in Laos, each with a capacity of about 1,500 tons/day. The capital for the construction of processing plants in Laos is only about a few hundred billion VND, not large. One factory will be built in Vietnam.

Producing high quality coffee beans without a modern processing plant is impossible. Meanwhile, Hoang Anh Gia Lai's coffee processing plants all use wet processing technology. Harvesting requires a high rate of ripe fruit.

Our coffee is grown at altitudes above 1,000 meters, all cared for according to the same process, resulting in an extremely uniform product, of extremely good quality.

That is an advantage for branding.

Can you share about your export plan and expected profit?

Coffee is a product that the whole world uses. There are currently exchanges in London and New York. It can be sold at any time, the output is almost unlimited, no matter how much is exported, the output of coffee is never a concern. However, the price is determined by the world market on the exchange, we cannot decide.

Regarding the export of coffee under the brand name “Hoang Anh Gia Lai Coffee”, when there are 10,000 hectares, with an average yield of 5-6 tons of beans/hectare, the output will be 50,000-60,000 tons. Of course, all coffee products under the brand name “Hoang Anh Gia Lai Coffee” meet export standards, the reason as I said above is quality. The price is determined by the market. Currently, Gia Lai Robusta coffee costs 4,500 USD/ton, Arabica coffee costs 9,000 USD/ton, of course it must be wet processed.

Banana export products of Hoang Anh Gia Lai. Photo: HAGL.

It is expected that the first year of harvest will begin in October 2027. Depending on market developments, if calculated at the current purchase price, Hoang Anh Gia Lai will earn about 600 million USD/year on this 10,000 ha area.

An equally important issue, sir, is what kind of labor resources will the project need?

As I said, the project will create jobs for about 10,000 direct workers. In addition, it is necessary to have a strong enough team of agricultural engineers, both in terms of numbers and knowledge and experience. On average, 50 hectares must have 1 engineer in charge of technical work, 10,000 hectares need several hundred engineers. Of course, the engineers must be highly qualified. If high-tech agriculture is done, all stages such as irrigation and fertilization must apply advanced technology, so the team of engineers must meet all these requirements.

Banana is one of the main crops of Hoang Anh Gia Lai. Photo: HAGL.

At the end of the conversation, Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc shared: Hoang Anh Gia Lai is a business located on coffee land, coffee planting should have been done many years ago, not just now. But in the past, rubber trees were too long, from 2008 to 2016, they gave up rubber trees when this tree failed.

When restructuring, Hoang Anh Gia Lai chose banana trees, because banana trees are short-term crops. It was this short-term crop that gradually regenerated and saved the company. Now the company is stable in all aspects, in which finance is considered a major problem. Therefore, the company began to consider coffee trees, aiming for coffee to be sustainable and long-term. Banana trees are the plants that saved Hoang Anh Gia Lai, but in the future, coffee will be number one.

In 2-3 years, coffee will be the top crop, followed by durian. Bananas are currently the top crop, but when coffee is ready, bananas will be in fourth place.

At the end of the conversation, I asked: "With this 10,000-hectare coffee project, are you sure of winning?" Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc replied: "Do you see any coffee farmers losing money? Everyone is rich! Hoang Anh Gia Lai will never lose money. Because I have calculated very carefully, coffee is still not at a loss at 30,000 VND/kg, while the current price is 120,000-140,000 VND/kg."

Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/giac-mo-doan-nguyen-duc-d785306.html