Lam Dong's pepper-growing region: even at high prices, it does not return to heavy chemical use, shifting to soil-and-root cultivation

In a high-price phase for pepper, origins tend to add fertilizer and pesticides in pursuit of higher yields. Yet in Lam Dong province, Vietnam's largest pepper origin, the opposite move is appearing. What Nong nghiep Moi truong (the agriculture-and-environment paper) reported on 26 July 2026 was the figure of producers who, on the idea that "if you want to make pepper healthy, first keep the soil healthy," switch to biological, sustainable cultivation without returning to the old heavy-chemical practice. For Japanese procurement and import buyers, this means one more piece of material for origin selection and specification negotiation for Japan, where the pesticide residue standards (MRLs) are strict.

Even as prices turned up, they did not add chemical fertilizer but switched to tackling root disorders

The lead figure of the article is Nguyen Quoc Quyen, who grows pepper in the Bon Nting area of Quang Son village, Lam Dong province. Even as prices turned up, he did not return to cultivation that pours in large amounts of chemical fertilizer as before, but has turned toward increasing soil organic matter and combining microbial materials, integrated pest management (IPM) and a review of drainage. The aim is to curb root disorders caused by nematodes and Phytophthora (blight). The on-the-ground sense that once the roots are damaged, no amount of added fertilizer works, is the starting point of the shift.

85,000-plus tonnes a year on 37,191 ha; administrative reorganization makes it the country's pepper hub

Lam Dong province now holds 37,191.2 hectares of pepper province-wide, of which over 33,400 hectares have entered the harvest period, with annual output exceeding 85,000 tonnes. This sense of scale is not unrelated to how, in the 2025 administrative reorganization, major pepper belts such as the former Dak Nong province were folded into the present Lam Dong province. As a result of the Central Highlands' pepper being consolidated into a single province, Lam Dong became the country's pepper hub.

The problem is that a considerable part of that wide planting is tired with age from years of excess chemical fertilizer and pesticide. In fields with weakened root systems, disease appears easily, and both yield and residue risk are hard to manage. Whether to push the plants hard while prices are high, or to rebuild the soil and return to a field that yields for a long time: some producers chose the latter. Because the original article does not give specific prices, this piece only assumes a high-price range.

The declaration itself of "not returning to heavy chemical inputs" becomes credit on the Japanese procurement side

Japan is a market sensitive to MRL violations for spices including pepper, and if an inspection at import finds a limit exceeded, it leads to re-export or disposal. That is precisely why an origin's declaration that it "will not return to heavy chemical inputs" itself becomes credit on the procurement side. What counts here is not an abstract organic orientation but the concrete substance of cultivation management: combining microbial materials, IPM and improved drainage to tackle root disorders. In specification negotiations, the dividing line is whether you can check all the way down to the pest-control history by field, the operation of the pre-harvest restriction period, and the method of managing nematodes and blight. On the administrative side, too, a certification-support ordinance that subsidizes the cost of obtaining VietGAP and organic certification is backing this shift institutionally; and reporting that Ha Tinh's citrus orchard was able to cut pesticides because it first fixed the soil, the 7-ha case shows the same thing: the idea of lowering residues starting from the soil is being shared across various parts of Vietnam.

The higher prices go, the more origins are sorted out on quality and residues

The higher pepper prices go, the more origins are sorted out on quality and residues. Between a field that rides the market and goes for volume with heavy chemical inputs and a field that rebuilds its soil and turns toward long, stable supply, the lineup of trading partners will differ a few years out. The more an origin wants to break into markets with strict residue standards such as Japan and Europe, the more it has no choice but to choose the latter. Lam Dong's shift can be read as a sign that this fork has begun even in a major Central Highlands origin. In exports to Japan, there are also moves by origins to get ahead of Japan's new regulations, and origins that move up their quarantine and standards compliance and those that do not will see the gap directly affect procurement stability.

Narrow down origins on three points: pest-control history, soil management and third-party certification

When considering Lam Dong pepper, the axes of confirmation narrow to three. First, whether the pest-control history and the pre-harvest restriction period can be tracked by lot. Second, whether the management of nematodes and blight relies on inputs or extends to soil management. Third, the status of obtaining and renewing third-party certification such as VietGAP and organic. Compared on unit price alone, there are situations where the heavy-chemical field looks cheaper at first glance, but factoring in residue risk, an origin that has organized itself from the soil tends to have the advantage in total cost. The origin's size is an ally, too. Because Lam Dong has a scale of over 37,000 hectares, a lot that meets Japanese demand can be assembled even by bundling, block by block, only fields with thorough soil management. Anchoring on collectors or cooperatives that will show you all the way down to cultivation management makes it easier to secure, reliably, pepper whose history can be traced.

Sources

Nong nghiep Moi truong, "If you want healthy pepper, keep the soil healthy" (26 July 2026)
Nong nghiep Huu co, "The bottleneck in Lam Dong province's pepper value chain"