A new website launched by a Vietnamese farmer has become a useful business tool for coffee growers in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

Nguyen Cong Thinh said he had the idea for the website, www.y5cafe.info, when he discovered that coffee growers had spent almost 1 million VND on gathering information on coffee prices via their mobile phones. He has first-hand experience of the hardships suffered by farmers on their coffee plantations.

The website appeared for the first time in the form of a blog early last year, with an article on coffee farming techniques. After a three month trial period, the website, which provides free information on the market, coffee prices and transaction methods, as well as coffee farming, processing and crop-protection techniques, was officially launched.

Thinh said that, even though the website benefits coffee growers, it was not a simple matter of introducing it to the farmers, who are unfamiliar with the use of information technology and are generally unaware of the importance of this information. Once the farmers learned that, by using the website, they could manage their businesses with greater ease, the number of visitors to the website increased considerably, peaking at 2,000-3,000 visitors every day.

Many coffee growers have expressed a willingness to contribute to the information and experiences contained on the site, meaning that it is constantly being updated and improved.

The website has also benefited farmers in Lam Dong’s neighbouring province of Dak Lak . By logging onto the site, the coffee growers in both provinces can exchange experiences and support each other.

Thinh said he also plans to provide internet-based technical assistance and an electronic coffee exchange to help farmers to sell their products directly to businesses and consumers, cutting out the necessity of using a middle-man.

Thinh said that the most difficult aspect of running the site is a lack of funding. As well as writing analyses using information from the internet, Thinh spends a considerable sum of money every month to gain access to on-line coffee prices and cover the costs of the use of a server.

Thinh has received financial assistance from friends and a number of private companies to help him to develop the website. (VNA)