It was begun in 2005 at a cost of VND100.6 billion (US$6.25 million) with funds provided by the State budget, foreign and domestic loans, and private sources.

The plan envisages zoning a cacao-farming area and setting up a system to semi-process cocoa beans and transfer processing technologies to local farmers.

It will focus on strengthening co-operation between the farmers and traders to help the former sell their produce at home and abroad.

In the last two years, the city’s Agro-Forestry College has provided training to more than 100 farmers in cacao planting and farming.

The province has established more than 130 cacao-growing clubs with some 4,600 farmers. They meet every month to compare notes on farming methods to improve productivity and quality.

Four coastal districts, Chau Thanh, Giong Trom, Mo Cay and Binh Dai, have achieved success in growing the crop. Farmers have planted 2,000 hectares of which 300-400 hectares are fruiting.

The US’s Cargill company and Britain’s ED& Fman Company have established representative offices in the province’s Chau Thanh commune to buy dried cacao beans.

The price of cacao fruits is about VND2,000 a kilogram, and twice that on the open market. Farmers earn VND40 million (US$2,500) per hectare from the crop, twice their earning from rice.

In a bid to expand the area under the crop to 20,000ha by 2020, local authorities have asked the central Government to provide high-quality hybrids and processing and packaging technologies, and help farmers access export markets