Lam Dong's VietGAP/organic support ordinance takes effect—subsidizing certification costs up to 45 million dong, supporting avocado, coffee, and tea

Lam Dong province (Lâm Đồng), a major agricultural province in the southern central highlands of Vietnam, put into force on March 10, 2026 an ordinance supporting the acquisition of VietGAP, organic and other GAP standards. Over the five years from 2026 to 2030, it subsidizes soil, water and sample analysis costs up to 15 million dong per organization and certification costs up to 45 million dong per organization. The target crops are Lam Dong's main agricultural products such as avocado, passion fruit, coffee, tea, vegetables and flowers, with coffee shipped from within the province on the order of 600,000 to 950,000 tonnes a year (the July 2025 administrative reorganization merging the former Binh Thuan and Dak Nong provinces and expanding the province's territory is also part of the background). The sourcing infrastructure for specialty coffee and organic avocado, which Japanese companies also watch, is strengthened from the policy side.

News details

The '2026-2030 Policy Resolution on Support for VietGAP Production' passed by the Lam Dong Provincial People's Council (HĐND tỉnh Lâm Đồng) came into force on March 10, 2026. The support is structured in a three-tier framework.

• VietGAP standard: Soil, water and sample analysis costs are subsidized up to 10 million dong per organization and up to 10 million dong per individual. Certification costs are supported up to 25 million dong per organization and up to 25 million dong per individual.
• Organic and other GAP (GlobalGAP, USDA Organic, EU Organic, etc.): Analysis costs up to 15 million dong per organization and up to 10 million dong per individual. Certification costs are, per organization, up to 45 million dong, and up to 30 million dong per individual.
• Training costs: Training costs for managers, technical staff, agricultural extension workers and rural laborers are 100% subsidized(common to VietGAP, organic and other GAP).

45 million dong is about JPY 265,000 in yen (at 170 VND = JPY 1). For small- and medium-scale cooperatives and agricultural enterprises, it is a scale that effectively zeroes out the cost of audit, sampling and document preparation, the biggest burden when obtaining organic certification.

Background: Lam Dong province after the administrative reorganization, and the certification gap

Lam Dong province lies in the southern central highlands, and its provincial capital is Da Lat (Đà Lạt). In the July 2025 administrative reorganization, the former Dak Nong province (6,509.3 km2) and the former Binh Thuan province (7,942.6 km2) were merged into the former Lam Dong province (9,781.2 km2), reorganizing it into one of Vietnam's largest provinces at 24,233.1 km2. Through this reorganization, in addition to the conventional highland agriculture around Da Lat (coffee, tea, vegetables, flowers, avocado, passion fruit, strawberries), dragon fruit, grapes and rice on the former Binh Thuan side and coffee and pepper on the former Dak Nong side also became subject to a single provincial policy. Note that, with the abolition of the district-level unit in July 2025, the municipal 'city' status of 'Da Lat City' has been reorganized (the regional name and tourism brand 'Da Lat' continues to be used).

Coffee (especially Arabica and Robusta), tea, vegetables, flowers, avocado, passion fruit and strawberries, making use of the highland climate at 1,000-1,500 m elevation, are a major supply source for demand in the Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi metropolitan areas. On the other hand, the certification rate still stays at the national average level, and the organic certification rate of small-scale farmers and sole proprietors in particular is estimated at under 10%. In the export markets (Japan, the EU, the US) certification has effectively become a condition of entry, and a policy measure to fill the certification gap had become urgent. This ordinance is positioned at the core of a strategy that links the government's precision agriculture and low-emission agriculture program and redefines Lam Dong province as the 'certified-agriculture hub of the southern central highlands.'

Support levels (2026-2030 period)

Industry and local reaction

The director of the Lam Dong agriculture and environment department stated that 'by 2030 we will expand VietGAP-certified fields within the province to 5,000 hectares and organic-certified fields to 2,000 hectares.' The department, intensive gardens averaging 5 to 10 hectares per plot at the center, intends to promote a three-stage model of certification acquisition -> export contracting -> capturing a price premium.

The management of a long-established tea company in the Bao Loc area (Tam Chau Tea) expressed welcome: 'VietGAP certification cost was a heavy burden equivalent to 3 to 5% of annual revenue for small and medium tea companies. Combined with the 100% training subsidy, we can begin exports of certified tea to Japan within the year.' A cooperative executive in the Di Linh area, a main avocado production area, says, 'For organic avocado bound for Japan, South Korea and Singapore, the current certification-cost burden made it difficult for individual farmers to enter. With the ordinance in force, we expect additional certifications on the scale of 100 households a year.' From the coffee industry, a specialty-coffee cooperative in the Cau Dat area comments, 'Obtaining organic certification for Arabica has become realistic, and we will put into full swing the establishment of direct-sales routes to European roasters and Japanese coffee specialty shops.'

Practical information for Japanese agriculture stakeholders and importers

For Japanese food trading companies, coffee importers and organic-food brands, Lam Dong's certification-support ordinance becomes a signal of 'a period of expanding sourcing lots of Vietnamese organic and GAP-certified goods'. The four items of specialty coffee (Arabica), organic avocado, organic tea and organic vegetables in particular are forecast to see their number of certified lots increase substantially from 2026 to 2030.

Trading companies and importers find it worth considering the following actions.

• With certified cooperatives and agricultural enterprises, five-year contract-type purchase agreements(synchronized with the subsidy-utilization period)
• Using the equivalence-review route with JAS Organic certification (mutual-recognition schemes with USDA Organic and EU Organic)
• Negotiating a premium unit price for the certification-cost subsidy portion (directing part of the cost freed up by the subsidy toward quality investment and Japan-facing specification)
• Matching via the Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee agriculture and environment department and the JETRO Ho Chi Minh City office

For OEM manufacturers, stable sourcing routes for organic avocado oil, organic tea extract and organic coffee powder raw material become buildable. Japan's organic-food market (JAS-certified goods) is expanding at an annual rate of 5 to 7%, and Lam Dong organic raw materials hold competitiveness on three points: 'central-highland origin, secured traceability, appropriate price.'

Ripple effects on the industry

The Lam Dong ordinance is highly likely to ripple to other Vietnamese provinces (other central-highland provinces such as Gia Lai and Kon Tum, Dong Thap and An Giang in the Mekong Delta, Son La in the north). Dak Lak province in the central highlands boasts the world's second-largest coffee output, but its organic certification rate is lower than Lam Dong's, and a move to imitate the policy is expected. The MAE has stated that it 'will formulate national-level certification-support guidelines by 2027,' and the Lam Dong ordinance has become a de facto template for institutional design.

Also, the expansion of organic certification brings linkage with the carbon-credit market into view. Because organic cultivation reduces the use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides, its GHG emissions are low, and the more certified fields increase, the more realistic it becomes to measure the whole province's carbon footprint. Additional support for certified fields by international institutions such as the World Bank, JICA and USAID (premium insurance, climate-adaptive infrastructure investment) is also expected.

Practical information summary

Summary

Lam Dong's VietGAP/organic support ordinance is a core policy that backs, from the institutional side, the southern central highlands''turning into a certified-agriculture hub'. The certification-cost subsidy of up to 45 million dong and the 100% training subsidy effectively remove the certification barrier for small- and medium-scale cooperatives and agricultural enterprises. For Japanese food trading companies, coffee importers and organic-food brands, 2026-2030 is a period of expanding sourcing lots of Vietnamese organic and GAP-certified goods, and the optimal timing to conclude five-year contract-type long-term purchase agreements. It is a phase in which the sourcing cost structure of certified lots changes greatly for the three main items of avocado, coffee and tea.

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Sources

• Vietnam.vn｜Lam Dong province has issued a policy to support VietGAP production for the period 2026-2030
• Vietnam.vn｜2,000 hectares of tea plantations to meet VietGAP and organic standards
• Wikipedia｜Lâm Đồng province
• Wikipedia | 2025 Vietnamese administrative reform (merger of Lam Dong, Binh Thuan, Dak Nong)