Currently, the export price of cashew kernels is almost equivalent to pepper, 3 times higher than coffee, but the profit of cashew growers is only 20% compared to coffee growers and 7% for pepper, so every year, 15,000 hectares of cashew have been cut down to plant other trees.

Profit from pepper is very high (Illustration)

Mr. Vo Van Chanh, Vice Chairman of Dong Nai People’s Committee, said that the province currently has more than 45,000 hectares of cashew with an average yield of 1.1 tons/hectare, the selling price of 17,000-30,000 VND/kg.

“The province’s cashew growing area accounts for 16% of the total agricultural land area, 22% of industrial crops area, but the economic efficiency is low, meanwhile, the province’s agricultural production value is over 90 million VND/hectare. This is difficult for cashew growers,” said Mr. Chanh.

According to Mr. Phan Minh Dao, Director of the Dong Nai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the department’s statistics show that the profit from cashew after each crop is only 6.3 million VND/hectare, equal to 20% of coffee and 7% of pepper. Thus, income from cashew tree is the lowest compared to other crops in Dong Nai.

Mr. Dao said that in the long term, it is difficult to maintain the stable cashew area at 45,000 hectares as the current time because growers will cut it down to plant other trees with higher profits. “When growers switch from cashew to other crops, the management authority can’t do anything. Therefore, in order to maintain the current cashew area, there must be a good mechanism and a high selling price of raw cashews,” said Mr. Dao.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Duc Thanh, Chairman of the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas) said that because Vietnam has not had any enterprise building its own cashew brand and there is a lack of investment in intensive processing, so the price of raw cashew nuts is not high. “Cashew processing and exporting enterprises can only buy raw cashews from growers at an average price of 20,000-22,000VND/kg. This price may be stable for many next years, but not increase,” Mr. Thanh said.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in 2005, the cashew growing area in the whole country was more than 433,000 hectares, but in 2013, it was only more than 313,000 hectares, decreased by 120,000 hectares. Thus, on average, each year, about 15,000 hectares of cashew trees are cut down and converted to other crops of higher value.

Mr. Le Quoc Doanh, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in order to maintain the area of more than 300,000 hectares of cashew in the coming years, the first thing to do is to improve the yield of cashew trees; thereby, helping cashew growers increase their income. To do this, good varieties are required. Currently, the average yield of cashew in the country is 0.94 tons/hectare. The target in the coming years is that the average yield at 1.7 tons/hectare.

“The problem now is to create good variety sets. The ministry does not limit the financial investment for research centers, as well as provide financial support for agricultural extension centers to build sustainable cashew models, thereby, increasing the yield of cashew trees,” said Mr. Doanh.

On June 12 in Dong Nai, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) held a conference to discuss solutions to develop cashew production and launch a steering committee for sustainable cashew development. This time, the conference was attended by cashew farmers, Department of Plant Production, Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Central Coastal provinces and the Southeast together to discuss solutions for sustainable cashew development. The goal is to build a key area of ​​200,000 hectares in 4 provinces: Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, and Binh Thuan. Replanting 60,000 hectares of old and diseased cashews in the Central Coastal provinces and the Southeast as well as create a high-yielding cashew variety sets to replace on these areas.