{"id":1368,"date":"2026-07-21T00:34:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/?post_type=industry_news&p=1368"},"modified":"2026-07-21T00:34:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:34:28","slug":"coffee-leaf-upcycle","status":"publish","type":"industry_news","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/industry_news\/coffee-leaf-upcycle\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee branches and leaves that were to be thrown away become a resource: the business opportunity opened by Vietnamese coffee's decarbonization"},"content":{"rendered":"

Branches and leaves pruned at coffee farms, and the bean husks left after processing, had until now been nothing but a nuisance\u2014burned at the edge of the field or left lying. Yet in Vietnam's major production areas, a move is spreading to remake these \"things meant to be thrown away\" into organic fertilizer, curbing chemical-fertilizer use while even lifting farmers' incomes. Upcycling that turns waste into a resource is taking hold as a means to satisfy decarbonization and profitability at the same time. For Japan's sourcing and materials industries too, this byproduct flow cannot be overlooked.<\/p>\n

The report that served as the starting point conveys efforts in Vietnam's coffee production areas to compost branches, leaves and bean husks rather than burn them, returning them to the soil. The focus is twofold. One is circulating carbon that had been leaving the field back into the soil to reduce emissions. The other is maintaining quality and yield in soil enriched with organic matter, increasing farmers' take-home pay. Rather than cutting the cost of waste disposal, the idea of turning the waste itself into value is shared locally.<\/p>\n

Why the Vietnamese coffee industry is turning the rudder toward decarbonization<\/h2>\n

Vietnam is one of the world's leading Robusta producers, and coffee is one of its main export agricultural products. The environmental standards demanded by export destinations, starting with the EU's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), grow stricter year by year. Scenes in which proof of origin and disclosure of carbon footprint are demanded are increasing, and producers have no choice but to reconsider their very cultivation methods.<\/p>\n

What drew attention here is composting that combines pruned branches, bean husks and livestock manure. Fields that had been weeded to bare soil are switched to a method of covering them with natural grass. The grass cover lowers soil temperature, increases organic matter and raises water retention. If part of chemical fertilizer can be replaced with homemade compost, purchase costs and manufacturing-derived emissions can be reduced at the same time. Stopping the incineration of waste itself produces the effect of keeping in the soil the carbon that had escaped with the smoke.<\/p>\n

Behind it is also the structural worry of coffee-price volatility. For farmers whose take-home pay has been swayed by the bean market, a system that reduces fertilizer bought from outside and circulates resources within the field underpins their management. If costs can be cut without lowering quality, profit is easier to retain even when the market falls. That two motives\u2014the international demand for decarbonization and the farmers' own profitability\u2014overlapped is what is spreading resource recycling beyond a one-off experiment.<\/p>\n

The impact of resource recycling by the numbers<\/h2>\n

Based on reporting and each company's published figures, we organize the main efforts. Because scale and how indicators are taken differ by company, please view it as grasping trends rather than a simple comparison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Entity<\/th>\nScale and indicators of the effort<\/th>\nAim<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Nestl\u00e9 Vi\u1ec7t Nam<\/td>\nLinked with about 23,000 farming households, growing area about 50,000 hectares. Trained over 490,000 people from 2011 to 2025<\/td>\nSpread of regenerative agriculture and emissions reduction<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vinh Hiep<\/td>\nLinked with over 10,000 households, over 17,400 hectares of Robusta. About 70% of production holds international certification<\/td>\nCertification and footprint management<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Change in farmers' income<\/td>\nParticipating farmers reported income increases of 30\u2013150%<\/td>\nSecuring profitability<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vinh Hiep's emission factor<\/td>\n3.77 kg CO2e per 1 kg of product (ISO 14067 basis)<\/td>\nVisualization through figures<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Nestle Vietnam has set targets of a 20% emissions cut by 2025, 50% by 2030, and net zero by 2050. More important than the size of the numbers is that pruned branches and bean husks\u2014\"resources that had not been counted until now\"\u2014have been built into both wheels of reduction and income growth.<\/p>\n

Local and industry reactions<\/h2>\n

Nestle Vietnam explains that it has supplied over 1 million seedlings for regenerative cultivation and continued long-term farmer training. It is not one-off technical guidance but a stance of changing everything from soil building to harvest as a whole.<\/p>\n

Vinh Hiep, an exporter in a Robusta production area, publicly states that it backs much of its production with certifications such as Rainforest Alliance, 4C and organic, and calculates the emission factor per product to ISO standards. It is a posture that answers the \"sustainability that can be shown in figures\" that buyers demand.<\/p>\n

Germany's international cooperation agency GIZ is reported to be supporting the creation of a \"community-type carbon mechanism\" through which small-scale farmers can receive the value of carbon. It is a move to explore a path by which carbon kept in the soil through composting and grass cover is eventually returned to farmers as revenue. From farmers in the field, voices are reported that income grew after introducing composting.<\/p>\n

Implications for Japanese health-tea and materials makers<\/h2>\n

From here it becomes consideration from a sourcing viewpoint. What this reporting mainly covers is fertilizer conversion, but coffee byproducts also have outlets beyond fertilizer. Dried fruit pulp (the skin of the coffee cherry) is called \"cascara\" and becomes a tea-type material with a faint sweetness and acidity, with a track record of distribution overseas. Coffee-leaf tea using the leaves can likewise become a beverage material that makes use of caffeine and aroma.<\/p>\n

A region like Vietnam, where large volumes of byproducts gather in one place and where proof of origin and certification are advancing, is promising as a supply source for such new tea-type materials. For Japanese health-tea and botanical-materials makers, turning attention to the branches, leaves and pulp that had been thrown away\u2014rather than the coffee beans themselves, where price competition is fierce\u2014is a chance to obtain both raw-material differentiation and story. The waste-derived background also meshes with the appeal of domestic brands that want to highlight environmental consideration.<\/p>\n

In fact, cascara is taking hold in Europe and the US as a material for drinks and baked goods, and it is drawing attention as a means for coffee-producing countries to retain added value domestically. If Vietnam not only routes branches, leaves and pulp to fertilizer but holds a system to dry and process a portion to food grade, a new exportable category will stand up. It also provides production areas with a revenue source not dependent on bean price movements, which for Japanese buyers is an advantage on the stable-supply front too.<\/p>\n

However, for food use, the management of drying, sorting and residue standards is required on a different level from fertilizer use. Byproducts collected for compost cannot be diverted as-is to beverage raw material. Mismanage the time from harvest to drying and there is also a risk of fermentation or mold. A perspective of teaming up with local processors and designing from food-grade primary processing is essential.<\/p>\n

Ripple effects on the industry<\/h2>\n

Resource recycling of byproducts is accelerating across Vietnamese agriculture as a whole, not just coffee. In seafood, a move to divert pangasius (catfish) byproducts into collagen and so on, greatly raising value, is advancing. In rice too, low-emission cultivation that reduces chemical fertilizer while securing profit is spreading. What is common is the shift from mass-production-only to a design that \"turns residue into earnings.\"<\/p>\n

For Japanese procurement managers, this flow holds two meanings. One is that the more a production area advances environmental measures, the more easily it meets export destinations' standards, making it stable as a long-term trading partner. The other is that the new category of byproducts broadens raw-material sourcing options. The sourcing map that looks only at main products such as beans and fruit is about due for a redraw.<\/p>\n

Practical information<\/h2>\n

If considering sourcing byproduct materials, first confirm the reality of processing. Whether it is for compost or food grade, and whether there is drying and storage equipment. Beyond the presence of certification, you also want to confirm whether byproduct traceability can be obtained. It is realistic to evaluate the stability of aroma and components domestically through small-volume sample trades, then increase volume. For a local partner, choosing a company that has a track record of exporting coffee beans and also has an interest in byproducts makes the conversation quick. A production area that has already complied with export-destination regulations such as EUDR tends to have smoother documentation for Japan too.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/h2>\n

Coffee branches, leaves and bean husks that had been thrown away are turning into a resource that, as fertilizer, produces emissions reduction and income growth at the same time. This byproduct flow can also connect to a supply source for new tea-type materials such as cascara and coffee-leaf tea. For Japanese health-tea and materials makers and procurement managers, the \"residue\" that had been hidden in the shadow of main products becomes the next move that reconciles differentiation with environmental consideration. The production area's decarbonization is quietly rewriting the map of raw-material sourcing.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h2>\n