Puih Bik’s 1- hectare coffee farm has a regular yield of about 7.5 tonnes of coffee each year. However, this year, the coffee beans are much smaller, which greatly reduces coffee output. The coffee price is also down by half compared with the previous year, standing at 0.25 USD per kilogram.
"This year, there is so little rain. The weather is not as expected, so fertilizer was not effective. Coffee beans are mostly flat, and quality is low. The price is so low. We don’t even want to harvest it, but we must; otherwise, the fruit will go to waste. " - Puih Bik, Farmer, Ia Der Commune, Ia Grai Dist., Gia Lai Prov.
Due to the early end of the rainy season, coffee growers cannot lay down enough fertilizer. Lack of nutrition and unstable weather are the main reasons for the coffee’s low quality.
"Coffee growers can learn from this harvest. They should have plan better for the fertilizing period. Farmers shouldn’t water flowers that bloom early, because this will cause the whole garden to bloom early" - Mai Tuan Minh, Manager, Technical Department, Gia Lai Agricultural Promotion Center.
77 thousand hectares of coffee in Gia Lai Province are in the harvest season. With the current situation of early blooming and low prices, farmers are facing the threat of heavy losses.
