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Dak Nong is one of the regions with the highest pepper productivity in Vietnam, contributing to making Vietnam the world's No. 1 pepper exporting power. Since the 1980s, pepper products has been developed in Dak Nong, focusing mainly on cooperatives and state-owned farms with an area of about 40-50 hectares. Since then, the agricultural area has continuously increased sharply, currently reaching 33,591 hectares, with an annual output of 60,049 tons. Thanks to growing on fertile basalt soil, the mineral content of pepper in Dak Nong is higher than that of pepper from other regions. Besides, Dak Nong is highly appreciated by the domestic and foreign pepper community as one of the leading localities in the movement of producing clean and safe pepper.

Dak Nong black pepper has a brownish-black color with a wrinkled surface. The seeds have a diameter of 4-5 mm, with a grain weight of 550 - 590 g/l. The Piperin content of Dak Nong black pepper reaches 5.23 - 7.45%, Fe content is 54.42 - 605.44 µg/kg, and Mn content is 20.65 - 40.52 µg/kg.

Dak Nong white pepper has a diameter of 3.5 - 4 mm, grain weight of 622 - 640 g/l, Fe content is 45.89 - 457.20 µg/kg, Mn content is 9.45 - 78, 45 µg/kg.

Dak Nong red pepper has a reddish-brown color, seed diameter is 4-5 mm, grain weight is 574 - 593 g/l, Fe content is 198.40 - 367.80 µg/kg, Mn content is 0.034 - 123,80 µg/kg.

Black pepper, white pepper, red pepper Dak Nong

The quality of Dak Nong pepper is stem from the specific natural conditions as well as the production methods of pepper farmers in the geographical area.

This geographical area has the average of high vulumn of annual rainfall, in the range of 1,777 – 2,719 mm/year. The rainy season is from April to the end of November, concentrating over 90% of the annual rainfall. The rainy period lasting from 7 to 8 months (longer than other regions from 2 to 3 months) is the ideal condition for plants to develop seed size. The harvest time of Dak Nong pepper is from January to April, peaking in February, coinciding with the dry season in the geographical area. During this period, the temperature ranges from 23-25oC, a high number of sunshine hours, low humidity, and high evaporation. This climatic condition occurs during the harvesting and drying process, creating the distinctive color of black pepper and red pepper in Dak Nong. The continuous dry period from December to March helps plants have enough time to differentiate flower buds after harvest, creating conditions for plants to flower simultaneously after encountering high humidity in April. This helps to increase the rate of pollination, reduce seed defects on the shoots, and help the plant give a high yield. The total number of sunny hours is high (average is from 2,000 to 2,300 hours/year) and is concentrated mainly in the ripening and harvesting stages (February - March) combined with low humidity (the lowest humidity is 71% in February) during this period, the post-harvest “Dak Nong” geographical indication pepper quickly removes the water content in the ripe pepper fruit, helping to produce high piperine content after drying.

In addition, the geographical area has a thick layer of soil, a porous structure, good permeability, and water retention, and a soil with a mechanical composition ranging from medium to heavy meat. The surface organic matter content fluctuates from 1.94 to 3.95%; Total nitrogen content in the surface layer ranges from 0.12 to 0.19%; Phosphorus content ranges from 0.2 to 0.3%; the cation absorption capacity (CEC) ranges from 14.18 to 22.27 me/100g of soil; The exchangeable calcium and magnesium content range from 0.25 to 0.28 me/100g of soil. As a result, pepper plants in Dak Nong pepper grow and develop well for high yields, as well as provide outstanding Fe and Mn content.

Raw pepper is harvested in Dak Nong

Not only having favorable natural conditions, but pepper production techniques of local people also contribute to the unique quality of Dak Nong pepper. The people of Dak Nong choose the middle leaf pepper variety for pepper production because it has undergone a long process of adapting to natural conditions which formed good resistance to pests and diseases, and at the same time, the variety gives a stable yield and is easy to care for. In Dak Nong, pepper planting poles are used as live poles. Live poles are fast-growing, strong, hard-bodied plants with relatively rough shells for easy attachment of pepper (Acacia rooster, black cassava, cages, agarwood, jackfruit, Nucifera, cotton). These plants have deep roots so as not to compete with pepper plants for nutrients. This is also different from the planting area in Kien Giang (wooden pillars); Vung Tau (brick and concrete pillars); and Gia Lai (with mixed pillars: live tree pillars; concrete pillars, and wooden pillars). Planting distance is especially noticeable with the distance between trees and rows 3 x 3 m, density 1,100 - 1,600 posts/ha. Thanks to this factor, the nuturing process becomes easy, the plants are less diseased, the humidity of the garden environment is controlled, especially the nutrient source from the soil rarely competes thoroughly, so the plants are always provided with adequate nutrition. contribute to the characteristic quality. The density of pepper planting in Dak Nong also facilitates the intercropping of resonant plants which are not the same host plants causing diseases for pepper such as coffee, avocado, and legumes, it helps to maintain humidity and shade for pepper plants to grow, especially in the hot season.

In addition, pepper farmers in Dak Nong all use manure/organic and microbiological fertilizers in a fairly synchronous and methodical manner, which is the main factor that makes a difference in the method of fertilizer use in the production process of the pepper cultivation here. Thanks to the amount of organic fertilizer applied continuously from the beginning of planting until the years after exploitation, it has contributed to increasing the fertility of the soil, increasing the ability of roots to develop, at the same time, organic fertilizers also contribute to maintaining the right soil moisture, thereby creating an ideal environment for the growth of antagonistic fungi (Trichoderma) contributing to limiting dangerous diseases. In addition, organic fertilizers also contribute to creating good, uniform product quality, firm seeds, and reducing the percentage of flat seeds.

Depending on the production demand for black, white, or red pepper products, the pepper harvest time can be extended, from January to April at the latest. Because Dak Nong is the last region of the Tay Nguyen and is the gateway to the Southeast region, the dry season also starts later, so the time to harvest pepper in Dak Nong is also later than in Gia Lai and Dak Lak growing areas from 1 to 2 months.

Geographical area: Including communes, wards, and towns in Dak Nong province, specifically:

- Ea T'ling town and Tam Thang, Nam Dong, Ea Po, Dak Wil, Truc Son, Cu Knia and Dak Drong communes of Cu Jut district;

- Dak Mil town and the communes of Dak Lao, Duc Minh, Duc Manh, Dak Sak, Thuan An, Dak N'Drot, Dak R'La, Dak Gan, and Long Son of Dak Mil district;

- Duc An town and the communes of Nam Binh, Thuan Hanh, Thuan Ha, Dak Mol, Dak Hoa, Dak N'Drung, Nam N'Jang, Truong Xuan of Dak Song district;

- Kien Duc town and the communes of Kien Thanh, Dak Wer, Nhan Co, Nhan Dao, Nghia Thang, Dao Nghia, Dak Sin, Hung Binh, Dak Ru, Quang Tin in Dak R'lap district;

- Dak Mam town and the communes of Dak Sor, Nam Xuan, Nam Da, Dak Dro, Tan Thanh, Buon Choah, Nam N'Dir, Nam Nung, Duc Xuyen, Dak Nang, and Quang Phu in Krong No district;

- The communes of Quang Truc, Dak Buk So, Dak R'Tih, Quang Tan, Quang Tam, and Dak Ngo of Tuy Duc district;

- The communes of Quang Khe, Dak Plao, Dak Som, Dak Ha, Quang Son, Dak R'Mang, and Quang Hoa in Dak G'Long district;

- The wards of Nghia Duc, Nghia Thanh, Nghia Phu, Nghia Tan, Nghia Trung, Quang Thanh, and the communes of Dak R'Moan, Dak Nia of Gia Nghia city.

Center for Examining Geographical Indication and International Trademark