Untangling zoning bottlenecks to expand macadamia and coffee acreage

ĐBP - Macadamia and coffee serve as key cash crops in the restructuring of the province’s agricultural sector. Operational implementation across localities indicates that acreage for both crops is surging rapidly, exceeding targets in numerous areas. However, expanding cultivation areas confronts obstacles as land funds fall within forestry zoning, demanding prompt measures to address the bottlenecks.

Quài Tở stands among the localities recording rapid expansion in macadamia and coffee cultivation across the province. From 2025 to date, the commune planted nearly 2,170ha, comprising more than 1,248ha of coffee and over 920ha of macadamia. Currently, the commune’s total macadamia acreage stands at 1,667ha and coffee at approximately 3,000ha; within this area, nearly 1,000ha of coffee has entered harvest and roughly 179ha of macadamia has yielded its first trial harvest. These achievements demonstrate that the policy of restructuring crop patterns and advancing macadamia and coffee cultivation enjoys public endorsement and support. Under the Resolution of the First Commune Party Congress for the 2025 - 2030 tenure, Quài Tở strives to raise the acreage of several key crops, including macadamia and coffee, to 5,000ha by 2030. Nevertheless, realizing this target faces several headwinds due to limited suitable land reserves for macadamia and coffee expansion, as certain tracts are situated within forestry zoning.

Nhữ Duy Đông, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Quài Tở commune, stated that under 2025 land statistics, the commune’s total agricultural land for other annual crops and perennial crops exceeds 7,510ha; excluding utilized plots, the locality retains over 2,200ha that could develop macadamia and coffee. However, most of this agricultural land falls within forestry zoning, meaning that without timely review and adjustment, securing land funds to expand key crops will encounter difficulties. Confronting this situation, the commune directed a review of locations with planning misalignments such as residential land, office land, water surfaces, wet rice fields, and areas zoned for coffee and macadamia development. It finalized dossiers requesting the Provincial People’s Committee to adjust and reduce the proportion of land under forestry zoning from 63.59% to 50.2%, equivalent to a reduction of 2,452.54ha of agricultural land within the zoning framework. Following the adjustment, obstacles surrounding macadamia and coffee cultivation zones across the locality are fundamentally resolved.

Leaders of Quài Tở commune inspect local residents’ macadamia cultivation areas.

Lò Hồng Phong, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, affirmed that developing coffee and macadamia represents one of the major orientations in restructuring provincial agriculture as clearly defined in Resolution No.11-NQ/TU of the Provincial Party Executive Committee. Accordingly, the objective set for 2030 is establishing centralized commercial production zones with 40,000ha of macadamia and 20,900ha of coffee. To date, macadamia acreage across the province has reached over 19,392ha and coffee has surpassed 20,560ha. Over the recent period, expanding macadamia and coffee across certain jurisdictions has run into difficulties because planting areas lie within forestry zoning. Nevertheless, one must acknowledge fully and accurately that land lying within forestry zoning does not automatically preclude the development of these two crops.

Regarding macadamia, as it is classified as a forestry tree species, it can be cultivated on land under forestry zoning; however, the province consistently directs that it must only be planted on bare, unwooded land, strictly prohibiting deforestation to develop macadamia. Meanwhile, coffee is an industrial crop, an agricultural commodity that must strictly comply with the European Union Deforestation Regulation on products free from deforestation and forest degradation, prompting the province to orient its cultivation outside forestry zoning areas. Yet given the relatively large zoned forestry territory, arranging land funds to establish concentrated macadamia and coffee zones remains comparatively challenging.

To settle these hurdles, the province will conduct a review, adjustment, and classification of forests and forestry land through 2030 toward generating land funds for macadamia and coffee development in localities with suitable climatic conditions. Concurrently, it will clearly delineate responsibilities across departments, sectors, and local authorities in screening land reserves, administering cultivation zones, providing technical guidance, and overseeing seed and product quality; stepped-up inspections and supervision over the execution of zoning and development plans for macadamia and coffee areas will be enforced to untangle emerging grassroots-level difficulties promptly. Regarding existing coffee and macadamia acreage planted on forestry-zoned land, the Department of Agriculture and Environment is coordinating with localities to pursue detailed screening and classification, providing the basis for recommending administrative handling in accordance with statutory regulations.

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