The fifth Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival will take place in Dak Lak Province’s Buon Ma Thuot City – the capital of Vietnamese coffee from March 9-12.

Visitors at the fourth Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival (Photo: VNA)

The biennial festival aims to further promote the Vietnamese coffee brand, honour coffee growers and popularise the coffee culture and tourism of Buon Ma Thuot – the largest coffee producer of Viet Nam.

It is also intended to increase the coffee export value and confirm the important position of the Vietnamese coffee industry in the world, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Dinh Van Khiet said at a press conference in Ho Chi Minh City on January 22.

The event will create a venue for coffee growers, businesses and consumers to forge their links via a wide range of activities such as an exhibition on Buon Ma Thuot coffee, a coffee making contest and a conference on sustainable coffee development.

Particularly, the festival will be held along with a series of important celebration events such as the 40^th anniversary of Dak Lak liberation day (March 10, 1975) and the 110^th anniversary of the Buon Ma Thuot establishment and development. It will also mark 100 years of the presence of coffee tree on the Dak Lak plateau.

In 2014, Viet Nam produced over 1.37 million tonnes of coffee, to which Dak Lak province contributed over 450,000 tonnes. The coffee export value was estimated at 3.4 billion USD.

Coffee plays an important role in the social-economic development of the Central Highlands as it helps reduce poverty in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities.