The trees on a coffee farm owned by Pun Coffee Co Ltd. “Planting trees is the first step in our plan to develop green-labeled coffee and sell carbon credits,” said Luong Ngoc Tram, CEO of the company.
When the competition for the best specialty coffees of 2024 ended at the end of April with Pun Coffee winning the first prize, Tram and her husband returned to their routine work in the sunny and windy house on Pun Hill.
While classifying Arabica beans, Tram told VietNamNet that she has been attached to coffee plant for several years, the specialty with more than 100 years of history in Khe Sanh.
“I left HCM City and came here in September 2019. My husband (Phan Hong Phong – reporter) was here before,” she recalled.
“At that point some people thought we were ‘crazy’. However, we have committed to continue the career that our father was associated with for decades,” she explained.
Phong’s father was one of the pioneers who developed Arabica plants in Huong Phung.
Tram and her husband experienced tough days when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. Since coffee was not sold, they had to trade other agricultural products to continue the coffee plant development plan.
“Instead of just processing coffee, we decided we needed to create a production chain, from growing coffee, collecting beans to processing final products,” she said. “High-quality coffee is the result of many factors combined, including soil, farming methods, harvesting and processing.”
Because Phong is good at roasting and planting, he is responsible for the development of the growing area. The cultivation must be carried out according to a standard process, in which no chemicals are used. They tackle insects with organic products and standard isolation time. Farmers are required to write crop diaries, while the company randomly sends staff to farms for inspection.
Tram said it was difficult to convince farmers, most of whom belonged to the Van Kieu ethnic minority, to adopt the new farming method because they had used fertilizers for years.
When Tram and her husband promised to buy coffee beans from farmers at the price of G+5 (market price + VND5,000), the farmers agreed to follow the new method.
Ultimately, they realized that the new cultivation method could bring benefits to them and the company. Some households can earn VND150 million from selling matured coffee with a yield of 10 tons per hectare.
Their coffee growing area is expanding step by step. There are now 200 hectares of coffee and the target number is 300 hectares.
The forest on a coffee farm
There are reports on Pun Coffee’s Facebook that coffee plants generate too much CO2, causing greenhouse gas effects. Small businesses must take responsibility to improve the environment.
This was the reason why Pun Coffee planted a forest on a coffee farm from 2021 to establish the biodiversity structure on coffee hills.
When discussing the project of planting 1 million green trees on coffee hills in Khe Sanh, Van Kieu residents wanted to grow fruit trees, while the foreign partner proposed growing large timber trees. Pun Coffee had to once again convince farmers to develop forestry, although farmers will have to wait a long time before they can exploit the wood for sale.
“Coffee hills have changed a lot. When you enter the coffee farms, you feel the smell of the soil. After harvest, coffee trees remain strong with green leaves, while the atmosphere is fresh,” says Tram.
Green label coffee and CO2 credits
Khe Sanh’s coffee has become better known, while Pun Coffee has won many first prizes at competitions and is now one of the world’s top five specialty coffee companies. But for Tram and her husband, their ultimate goal is to sell green label coffee and CO2 credits.
Tram said she understands they will have a long way to go to create carbon credits that are available for purchase. It is a wrong idea that if you grow trees to absorb carbon, you can sell carbon credits.
Many things need to be done to participate in the new commodity market. Tram revealed that they are following instructions from foreign partners who have experience in this field.
Tam An-Hien Anh
