” I hope that one day, on the Ambassador’s table, there will be circular cocoa and circular chocolate from the Central Highlands,” said Mr. Bach Thanh Tuan, Director of the Center for Community Development (CDC), to the EU Ambassador to Vietnam, Julien Guerrier, on a March day in the Central Highlands.
The Ambassador’s Encouragement
“I was born in France and lived for a long time in Belgium. I hope to one day enjoy organic chocolate produced in Vietnam,” Ambassador Guerrier shared. His words are a great source of encouragement and motivation, given that France and Belgium are renowned chocolate-producing nations, while Vietnam has yet to secure a significant position in this market.
According to Helvetas Vietnam, Vietnam’s total cocoa cultivation area in 2024 was only 3,407.1 hectares, with Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, and Lam Dong provinces accounting for 48%. Vietnam’s total raw cocoa output reached 4,789 tonnes per year, whereas global production exceeds 4 million tonnes annually, according to the International Cocoa Organization.
The Ambassador’s encouragement comes not only in words but also in action. Since 2022, the EU has funded a project worth nearly 2 million euros to help transform the cocoa and chocolate sector in the Central Highlands and Southeastern provinces toward regenerative and circular economy approaches, with the broader goal of applying circular economy principles across the agri-food sector.
These days, farmers in Ea Kar District, Dak Lak Province — home to about 750 hectares of cocoa — are harvesting their crops with excitement as yields rise and prices steadily increase thanks to stable sales agreements with several businesses.
Nguyen Hong Thuong, Director of Nhat Tam Cooperative in Ea Dar Commune, Ea Kar District, Dak Nong Province — a beneficiary of the EU-funded project — said that the purchase price for fresh cocoa beans this year has reached nearly VND 90,000 per kilogram.
When cultivated using proper techniques, each hectare of cocoa can generate between VND 500 million and VND 700 million annually, with some households earning up to VND 1 billion. Nhat Tam Cooperative purchases fresh cocoa beans from farmers under a minimum price commitment, ensuring farmers’ confidence to continue investing in and expanding this crop.
Nguyen Xuan Luu, a farmer in Ea Dar Commune, happily shared that earning VND 400–500 million a year is already “more than enough – what more could a farmer wish for?” Meanwhile, Nguyen Duc Thanh cheerfully brought a bag of fresh cocoa beans to sell to Nhat Tam Cooperative, proudly showing off the new motorbike he bought after two harvests, each earning him about VND 15 million.
In Dak Wil Commune, Cu Jut District, Dak Nong Province, farmer Nguyen Kim Dinh owns 3 hectares of land with 3,000 mature cocoa trees. He recalled that in 2023, the purchase price for fresh cocoa beans was only around VND 24,000–25,000 per kilogram. However, with prices rising last year, he earned about VND 600 million.
In recent years, cocoa prices have been steadily increasing due to the impact of climate change on major growing regions worldwide. For example, Côte d’Ivoire — the world’s leading cocoa producer — lost 3.8 million hectares of cocoa plantations, equivalent to 26% of its area, between 2001 and 2023. With demand rising while supply declines, global cocoa prices have surged, creating opportunities for Central Highlands cocoa farmers.
From Circular Cocoa to a Closed-Loop Circular Agriculture
Nhat Tam Cooperative, Dong Tien Cooperative in Cu Ni Commune, Ea Kar District, Dak Lak, and Nhat Thong Dak Lak Company in Cu Bao Commune, Buon Ho Town, are among the entities supported by the EU project through partners including Helvetas Vietnam, the Center for Community Development (CDC), and Grand-Place Puratos to develop circular cocoa and move toward other circular agricultural products.
Since 2007, the EU has implemented the SWITCH–Asia Programme to promote sustainable production and consumption models and behaviors across Asia. Advancing a circular economy in agriculture is one of the program’s priorities in Vietnam, with cocoa selected as a pioneering model — large enough to create meaningful impact, yet small and concentrated enough for experimentation and proof of concept
Pham Huu Thoi, Director of Nhat Thong Company, which interplants cocoa with other crops on 300 hectares using a circular model, described the project’s support as arriving “for the right people, at the right time.” With assistance from Helvetas Vietnam, the company has established a seedling nursery, developed earthworm farming, produced biological plant protection products, and built a ready-to-implement circular farming system aimed at producing organic products that meet international standards.
Meanwhile, at Nhat Tam Cooperative, circular economy solutions are widely applied in cocoa production — from using cocoa by-products as organic fertilizer and animal feed, to producing biochar from cocoa waste, and returning that biochar to the soil as fertilizer.
Standing beside a furnace that converts agricultural waste into biochar, Vu Duong Quynh, an agricultural environment consultant for Nhat Tam Cooperative, explained that at a household scale, the VND 15 million furnace can process only 25–30% of a farm’s by-products, but even so, it already meets about one-third of the farm’s annual fertilizer needs.
Most importantly, biochar made from cocoa waste (fruit husks, branches, dried leaves, etc.) is of high quality, improving soil health, retaining moisture, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and closing the loop in the cocoa life cycle.
Unlocking the Potential of Cocoa
Bach Thanh Tuan, Director of the Center for Community Development (CDC) and Executive Committee Member of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (VICOFA), confidently stated that the EU project is helping unlock the potential of Vietnam’s cocoa sector and awaken opportunities in the Central Highlands and other regions.
Through training, farmers are gradually shifting their mindset toward producing “packaged” value — defined by quality, environmental responsibility, clear traceability, and compliance with the strict standards of European and global markets.
Mr. Tuan hopes that the next step will be to incorporate carbon credits into the project as a way to introduce a new governance model and make a modest contribution toward achieving the Vietnamese Government’s net-zero target by 2050.
For his part, Ambassador Julien Guerrier expressed his admiration upon seeing that, with EU support, businesses and farms in Vietnam are taking the lead in upgrading production towards a circular economy model, particularly in the cocoa sector.
He also shared that he had visited a circular model in the Mekong Delta’s shrimp farming industry, where ponds are designed as a closed-loop system. Fish in the ponds help process waste from the shrimp, creating a sustainable production chain. The Ambassador noted that Vietnam is truly taking the lead and has the potential to become a model of the circular economy for other countries.
Source: Ngọc Vân – Báo Lao Động
