By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
University.”
Coffee, without an iota of doubt, is the leading beverage in the Philippines. It has been so since the 1880s when we were considered one of the 4 leading coffee producers in the world.
Before the end of the 19th century, however, our coffee industry was destroyed by a disease called coffee rust from which the industry never truly recovered. The indomitable courage of the coffee farmers allowed the industry to float along though profit was hard to come by.
During my college days, I used to visit classmates in Batangas and enjoyed Barako coffee in all its natural, strong taste but not so aromatic. Coffee Liberica is the barako. Our aromatic Arabica is not the barako type that others mistake it to be. Then, the coffee trees were not managed so well largely contributing to the decline of the industry.
Somehow, today the country is the 24th largest coffee producer worldwide. No thanks to government indifference to a thriving industry. Realizing the importance of coffee in our everyday life, the government is now slowly embarking on promoting production of this crop on a wider, grander scale.
Who can overlook the fact that 9 out of 10 Filipino households drink coffee? Every government office serves coffee to visitors and so with private entities. Coffee has become an integral part of business deals, meetings, etc. Countless important decisions are helped by the stimulating effect of coffee. As I write this piece, coffee is a loyal company.
The reality at the moment is that that we are consuming more than 108,000 metric tons of coffee but we are only producing about 22,000 metric tons of it. Some report actually place the production gap as high as 180,000metric tons. Our supply is therefore mostly imported although ironically, we also export part of what little volume we produce.
What we are saying is that the potential of the local coffee industry is sky high. It is actually considered a sunrise industry. This is a truth that is now fully understood by our planners, especially in the agriculture sector.
Even the Commission on Higher Education is cognizant of this. Reason why CHED organized last week, the 1st higher education summit on academe-industry-LGU linkage for coffee attended by at least 34 state universities and colleges nationwide, private companies like Nestle and Rocky Mountain café, Line agencies such as NEDA, DA and DTI PLUS LGUs like Benguet. The main convenor was no other than CHED commissioner Dr. Alex Brillantes, a Baguio boy. The summit was hosted by the Benguet State University.
As explained by Dr. Brillantes, the summit was intended to have the key players forge a workable partnership to advance the coffee industry. A coordinated endeavor of the academe-industry-LGU tripartite will surely redound to the benefits of farmers and the satisfaction of consumers. In short, it will advance the coffee industry as an important source of livelihood of farmers and entrepreneurs. Ultimately, it will have a substantial impact on the local economy.
The summit recognized the very important role that BSU is playing for the industry, together with the Cavite State University. The Kalinga State University (formerly Kalinga-Apayao State College) is now an emerging key player in the industry. Others include Batangas State University, Bukidnon State University and Nueva Vizcaya State University. Other SUCs are eager to get into the act. Add to this the ever increasing involvement and budgetary support of the DA, especially the CAR-RFO through the HVCDP. Agencies such as DTI and NEDA are also into the loop. With the enthusiastic wholehearted concurrence of industry players, the coffee industry indeed has a golden future.
The summit itself is an experiment, and it was a consensus that it was a resounding success. If what was planned will succeed, then it could be used as a platform for cooperation in other fields.
At present, coffee programs in SUCs are in place only in 5 regions. This limitation is envisioned to involve other SUCs in other regions, so at least 50 of them should be actively involved in the coffee program.
In CAR, coffee has become so important that it is now the region’s OTOP. It is also the OTOP of 6 municipalities/city in the region. The continuing support given to coffee made CAR the supplier of at least 7% of the total production in the country. It has displaced CALARBARZON as the 5th largest coffee-producing region. CAR is estimated to have 6,681 hectares of coffee which could easily increase to a few hundred more in a couple of years with the intense support of the DA and the forging of the tripartite linkage.
Kalinga is the main coffee producing province in CAR but Benguet is considered the Arabica capital of the Philippines. The reputation of Benguet in relation to Arabica maybe traced to the selfless efforts of Prof Ben Dimas who, against all odds, proved that the aromatic coffee could be an excellent alternative source of income for farmers in this vegetable growing area. He is already octogenarian but he is still at it – helping promote Arabica coffee cultivation to anyone who is interested.
For the industry to advance as desired, a lot of problems identified during the summit such as low yield, old trees, poor soil, poor quality planting materials, marketing and promotion problems, etc will have to be properly addressed.
The growing demand for coffee is about to be met with great interest. Cordillera could lead the way.**
