Vietnam has by June this year had some 20,589 hectares grown with cocoa trees, according to the Việt Nam Cocoa Co-ordination Committee (VCC) at its recent meeting in Ho Chi Minh City.
The VCC said the cocoa-growing area has expanded four times during 2005-2010 and the productivity has risen 70 folds. The annual productivity was estimated at 2,500 tons.
Cocoa is mainly planted in the South-Eastern region and the Central Highlands but the cultivation is scattered due to the lack of specific planning schemes, investment capital, and farming know-how.
The VCC has set the target of increasing the total cocoa-growing area to 60,000 hectares and 80,000 hectares by 2015 and 2020, respectively, with total export turnover standing at US $50 – US $60 million.
Global cocoa productivity has almost standstill meanwhile the demand is still on rise in countries like Brazil, Russia, or the Middle East.
It would be a good chance for Vietnam to grasp the opportunity if it is successful in maintaining the quality of cocoa beans and speeding up technique transfer to cocoa growers.
Vietnam has advanced to become the world’s 2nd rice exporter and she, has, within a short period of time, become a leading coffee, pepper, cashew producers of the world.