The conference reviewed the progress of a project funded by ACDI/VOCA, an American non-profit organisation, which has helped expand cacao growing areas to 7,320 hectares in 2000.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong said that cacao is growing mostly in the south and the Central Highlands. The national territory under cacao is expected to almost treble to 20,000 hectares by 2010, he added.

VCDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard praised Vietnam's efforts in expanding the areas under cacao over the past three years in a sustainable way.

Eighty percent of the world supplies of cacao beans come from farming families, proving that the crop is very suitable to small-scale farming, said Leonard in conclusion.