Hanoi – On Friday 21 September 2007, under the framework of the “WSSD (World Summit on Sustainable Development) Partnership on Market Access” between Vietnam and the Netherlands, the two Governments, as well as representatives from the Non-Governmental Organizations and the private sector, met to discuss the sustainable development of Vietnam’s Cocoa sector, which has been identified as a suitable and desirable agricultural commodity to extend the existing WSSD Partnership Market Access.

“In Viet Nam, cocoa is being planted on 7,550 ha mostly in the southern provinces of the country,” according to a senior official of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. “The Vietnamese government has developed a national program to increase the area to 20,000 ha by 2010. However, it is vital to be able to produce high-quality beans to avoid mistakes that coffee sector experienced during the period from 1998 to 2003” he/she added. In opinion of industry experts, Vietnam has appropriate conditions to produce high grade Cocoa beans. If Vietnam can accelerate the growth of cocoa in a sustainable way, it has every chance to become an important producer and exporter of quality cocoa. To achieve this, cultivation methods have to be improved and a “comprehensive quality concept” must be adopted.

Cocoa can be grown by smallholders on already converted or degraded lands, and it can be intercropped with other crops to provide farmers with additional livelihood options.   

When produced in these smallholder agro-forestry systems, cocoa can make a positive contribution towards biodiversity conservation, improvement of degraded forest land as well as poverty alleviation, bringing about great economic and social benefits in specific rural areas. For the reason, cocoa has drawn a lot of attention from different organizations, agencies and private sector.