Venture deep into the Central Highlands of Vietnam and you will find the Dung K’No village in the Lam Dong Province. This region is filled with towering mountains, low clouds, and vast expanses of pine trees. Nestled snug within the central mountains, this hidden gem of a village is home to a unique collection of Arabica farms, growing high-quality coffee amidst the usual sea of Robusta farms. This is a significant feat, considering Vietnam is a powerhouse Robusta producer.
The smallholders in Dung K’No usually grow coffee on 2 hectares or less, on average. With only around 2,100 people in the village within 494 households – agriculture, coffee specifically, is the main source of income.
On-the-ground training is provided by Sustainable Management Services (SMS), a network of agronomists and other staff helping implement sustainable practices for coffee producers around the world. In Dung K’No, SMS initiated an action plan to connect producers to better markets and resources and are now in close connection with 4,000 producers, 1,500 of which are growing Arabica.
SMS has tailored educational systems to spread awareness to the Dung K’No producers about sustainable agricultural practices whilst also allocating vital resources to each farm. Regular training and interventions are offered to provide producers with the opportunity to interact with other producers to learn from each other. Shade trees saplings are dispersed to each farm, and producers are taught that shade can act as an extra layer of protection for the coffee whilst also providing producers with another source of income.
Why the 'Gibbon'
Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical rainforests from Eastern Bangladesh and Northeast India, to Southern China and Indonesia (including the islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java).
Also called the lesser apes, gibbons differ from great apes (bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and humans) in being smaller, and not making nests. Like all apes, gibbons are tailless but, unlike most of the great apes, gibbons frequently form long-term pair bonds. Their primary mode of locomotion involves swinging from branch to branch for distances up to 15 m at speeds as fast as 55 km/h (34 mph). They can also make leaps up to 8 m and walk bipedally with their arms raised for balance. They are the fastest of all tree-dwelling, nonflying mammals.
Most species are either endangered or critically endangered (the sole exception being H. leuconedys, which is ‘vulnerable’), primarily due to degradation or loss of their forest habitats.
