CELEBRATING COFFEE: A music and dance performance at the opening ceremony of the eighth Buôn Ma Thuột Coffee Festival which was opened in the Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) province of Đắk Lắk. — VNA/VNS Photo Nhật Anh

ĐẮK LẮK — A series of coffee promotion activities and art performances have been organised at the eighth Buôn Ma Thuột Coffee Festival in the Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) province of Đắk Lắk.

Addressing the opening ceremony in the city of Buôn Ma Thuột on Friday night, Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang said the Central Highlands in general and Đắk Lắk in particular were famous for large-scale coffee growing and also known as the “Coffee Capital of Việt Nam”.

Quang said although Việt Nam’s coffee industry has gained achievements in the world market, there were still many challenges.

He encouraged the provinces in the region to boost the application of technologies in coffee production to increase productivity, ensure quality and adapt to climate change to target the sustainable development of the coffee industry.

Themed “Buôn Ma Thuột - Destination of the World’s Coffee”, the festival features a wide range of activities such as free coffee for tourists, street art performances and an elephant race.

HIGHLANDS CULTURE: Gong artisans from the province participate in the street art performance at the coffee festival. — VNA/VNS Photo Nhật Anh

The event includes a coffee exhibition featuring 400 stalls by 150 enterprises, including 10 foreign ones, and a workshop on the development of high-quality Vietnamese coffee.

A contest for farmers who are growing coffee by applying smart technology and adapting to climate change is also set up, attracting contestants from eight provinces including Sơn La, Quảng Trị and Bình Phước.

In addition, the organisers offer a contest for making coffee drinks with dozens of baristas throughout the country participating.

A photo exhibition held at the World Coffee Museum features hundreds of works on the history of coffee and Vietnamese coffee culture.

The festival will close on March 14, expecting to attract more than 50,000 visitors. — VNS