The former Tỏa Tình commune (now part of Quài Tở) has 7 villages, where the main livelihood is cultivation and animal husbandry. In recent years, on the hillsides and upland fields, corn and cassava have been rapidly replaced by coffee.

To date, the total coffee area in Quài Tở commune has reached over 1,600ha; in the first 9 months of the year alone, 640ha were newly planted. This shows the rapid development and expansion of the coffee area here.

Nhữ Duy Đông, Chairman of the Quài Tở commune People’s Committee, said: “Long-term crops are a sustainable economic development direction, helping people escape poverty and prosper in their own homeland. Besides promoting the application of science and technology in planting, care, and harvesting to improve product quality, the key factor in expanding the coffee area in Quài Tở is the change in mindset, the self-formation of processes, and the promotion of production.

In villages like Chế Á, Sông Ia, Hua Xa A, and Hua Xa B, for many years now, after the harvest season, each household sets up a small nursery, nurses their own coffee seedlings, and uses them for gap-filling or new planting to replace their old corn and cassava fields. This is the most positive change in the mindset of expanding and developing sustainable production, linking raw material zone development with processing and consumption. This gradually forms a closed value chain, helping people produce more stably, effectively, and sustainably.”

Chế Á village is home to the Hmong ethnic people and is also the place where the practice of self-nursing and expanding coffee cultivation is applied in the commune. In recent years, the old, non-permanent houses have gradually been replaced by sturdy, imposing red-roofed houses, reflecting the prosperity here.

Vừ A Minh, Secretary of the Chế Á village Party Cell and the first person in the village to self-nurse coffee seedlings, shared: “In 2009, the first household in the village planted coffee. After that, I and 2 other households followed, with a total area of only a few hectares. After seeing the trees grow well, suited to the climate and soil, people gradually expanded. At that time, we mainly bought seedlings from Mường Ảng. The transport was far, and we had little experience in selecting and caring for them, so many trees died or grew poorly. In 2014, after starting to harvest, I attended training sessions in the commune and also researched and learned the techniques for nursing and planting coffee to be proactive in both seedlings and crop quality. After a few years of self-nursing, the seedlings developed well, and my family’s upland fields for corn and cassava gradually converted to coffee. This year alone, my family expanded by another 1.5ha of coffee. We have about 0.5ha of land left, and after the harvest, we will nurse seedlings and plant the rest. Currently, my family has a total of over 7ha of coffee, with 4ha producing fruit. We have only harvested about 60% of the area so far, but before costs, we’ve earned over VND 900 million. Thanks to the nursery and being proactive with effective seedlings, people inside and outside the village have actively followed, and the coffee area has expanded rapidly because of it.”

Chế Á village has 76 households. After many years of development, the village’s total coffee area has reached over 200ha, not counting the new area changes within the year. In the last days of the year, the scent of ripe coffee wafts on the wind from the fields. On the hillsides, large and small bags of coffee are transported amidst the sounds of chatter, discussing the fluctuating coffee prices, which households are building new houses, and which have escaped poverty.

Minh added that Chế Á village still has 35 poor and near-poor households. In 2024 and 2025, over 20 households built new houses, each costing at least around VND 700 million. After this year’s coffee harvest, if the price remains stable, the number of poor households next year will only be around 10.

Meanwhile, Mùa A Dơ, from Chế Á village, said: “My family just separated from the extended household in 2020 and started learning and developing coffee trees late, so at that time, we were still a poor household. Now, my family has a total of 7ha of coffee, with about 2ha already harvesting. In 2024, we harvested 20 tons of coffee, so this year my family built a new house and escaped poverty.”

Thanks to the bright spot of Chế Á village in crop restructuring, along with the support, companionship, and communication from the local government, the model of self-nursing and planting coffee has spread rapidly. Each year, hundreds more hectares of coffee are newly planted, replacing the old corn and cassava fields. This contributes to promoting sustainable economic development for the local people.