Cargill Establishes New Cocoa Buying Station in Vietnam

With the establishment of the new buying station in Binh Phuoc, Cargill will expand its farmer training and support program to transfer cocoa farming expertise and technology to farmers in Binh Phuoc and other nearby provinces.

2 Apr 2010 --- Cargill has officially opened a new cocoa buying station located at National Road 14, Minh Hung Commune, Bu Dang, Binh Phuoc province. This is the third buying station the company established in Vietnam's cocoa growing areas to provide farmers with better market access for their crop. The other two buying stations are located in Ben Tre and Daklak provinces and were established in 2005.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa, vice director general of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Department of Crop Production and Mr. Nguyen Van Cu, vice chairman of the People Committee of Bu Dang, participated at the opening ceremony that was hosted by Mr. Chanh Truong, country representative for Cargill in Vietnam.

Cargill is committed to provide support and expertise to local farmers to help promote best practices in cocoa growing. With the establishment of the new buying station in Binh Phuoc, Cargill will expand its farmer training and support program to transfer cocoa farming expertise and technology to farmers in Binh Phuoc and other nearby provinces.

Since 2005, more than 12,000 Vietnamese farmers have benefited from Cargill's quality training sessions to learn best practice techniques for cocoa growing, harvesting and new fermentation technologies to help them produce high-quality cocoa beans for the international market.

Cargill also established over 100 cocoa demonstration farms, co-operated with the Ministry of Science and Technology to help establish the Vietnamese cocoa standards, and collaborated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to release approved cocoa varieties and help build up the value-chain for Vietnamese cocoa.