This Acorn project, run by our partner Rainforest Alliance in Vietnam, and currently supports almost 2,000 smallholder farmers.
Vietnam has the second largest coffee production after Brazil with an annual production of 1.7 to 1.8 million tons. The Central Highlands is the main growing area for Robusta coffee in Vietnam, accounting for over 90% of the national production. It is produced and supplied by over 95% from smallholders who own the coffee area from 0.8 to 1.5 hectares.
Geographically, the project area is one of the poorest regions in Vietnam. The average income of a household is less than 2,500 USD/household/year and agriculture is reported as the main source of rural income. There are more than 54 different ethnic minorities across the country including in the project areas, of which over 50% are poor households. Historically, women were not decision-makers in the household and while this has shifted with younger generations, there is still a high gender imbalance, particularly within older households. The biggest challenges for current farmers are low income due to rising input costs (including labor and fertilizer), and unstable coffee prices due to price fluctuation in the global coffee market. Climate change has also affected the weather and climate, and farmers have to battle many pests and diseases which may damage their crops and has made coffee farming even more difficult.
The Rainforest Alliance is a global NGO that works in 62 countries to promote more sustainable land management practices while cultivating thriving rural economies. With almost 40 years of operation, the Rainforest Alliance has had a global impact, empowering farmers and helping to restore biodiversity and ecosystems through promotion of regenerative agricultural practices. They are known for their green frog seal, seen on products like chocolate, tea, coffee, nuts and tropical fruits; these products come from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms that use practices design to support social, economic and environmental sustainability.
Our partnership in Vietnam initially began with two Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee businesses, Vĩnh Hiệp and Tín Thành Đạt, working with approximately 1,500 coffee farmers in the Central Highlands region. Acorn and the Rainforest Alliance will partner with these businesses and farmers to implement regenerative coffee farming practices that can increase their plots’ resilience, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration capabilities.
Thiet Nguyen (Director of the Rainforest Alliance Vietnam) sits down with Cathy Tran (Acorn Project Developer) to share the challenges and opportunities of implementing agroforestry with Vietnam smallholder coffee farmers.
Vietnam is the second highest rate of deforestation of primary forests in the world caused by the expansion of rubber and coffee producing areas. Another factor of deforestation has been due to the decimation of forests by the herbicide (such as Agent Orange), defoliants, and bombs during the Vietnam War between the 50s and 70s. The main drivers that have caused Vietnam to struggle with rampant deforestation include hydropower development, illegal logging, and increased demands for crops and agriculture despite overall net reforestation efforts.
With the Acorn project, the Rainforest Alliance will advance contextualized agroforestry design for the Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee farms in the region, optimizing their climate resilience as well as maximizing the carbon sequestration capability of the plot. Additional to the environmental benefits of agroforestry, such as improved soil health and biodiversity, the project also aims to improve livelihoods of Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee farmers by giving them access to the carbon market. This combination will maximize the long-term benefits for farmers by engendering a resilient ecosystem, more sustainable crop yields, and an economic incentive.
The project plans to scale to other commodities, such as pepper and tea, and expand to the Northwest Vietnam region. The project aims to reach at least 70,000 farmers in the next few years.
The project has already undertaken the following activities:
Click the links below to download the project's certification documents.
Hear what coffee smallholder farmer, Duòng, has to say about the Acorn-Rainforest Alliance agroforestry carbon program.
