Indonesia to help Pinoy coffee farmers

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is collaborating with Indonesia to help boost productivity of Filipino coffee farmers in efforts to address declining supply of the commodity.

The Department of Agriculture has partnered with Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI),Indonesian food and beverage manufacturer PT Mayora Indah Tbk, and the Embassy of Indonesia in the Philippines to provide advanced trainings in the Philippines.

“This training aims to contribute to the local government’s program in improving productivity, product quality, and profitability of the country’s coffee farms through a competitive and sustainable value chain from farming to manufacturing,” PCBI president Chit Juan said.

Ten Filipino coffee farmers received training grants to expand their knowledge and skills on coffee farming and processing, boost their productivity and help arrest the declining supply of locally-grown coffee in the Philippines.

The farmers are from Benguet, Cavite, Mt. Province, Nueva Vizcaya, Negros Occidental, Davao del Sur, and Sultan Kudarat.

Farmers who qualified for the grant should own at least a hectare of land planted with coffee, and must have produced at least one metric ton of coffee a year.

PCBI said the vision is to spur coffee bean production of farmers across key provinces in the Philippines particularly Benguet, Quezon, Ilocos, Negros, Davao, Bukidnon, and Sultan Kudarat.

“Smallholder coffee farmers in these provinces already plant arabica, robusta, liberica, and excelsa coffee beans, but still have the potential of further generating incomes and supporting livelihoods with sustained quality production,” Juan said.

“Through the educational grant, we hope to help reboot the country’s coffee industry by equipping our coffee farmers with the necessary knowledge, skills, and mindset to derive the most economic benefit from their produce,” she said.

Indonesian Ambassador to the Philippines Sinyo Harry Sarundajang said that the program would bolster the need for coffee and increase the production of local Philippine coffee beans to contribute to the development of the local coffee industry.

“I am optimistic that this program could be a good start and will also open other new opportunities between our nations to get even closer and gain mutual benefits,” he said.

Coffee production went down by a 0.35 percent to 5,790 MT in the third quarter as harvesting of berries was reduced because of the delayed flowering of coffee trees which was attributed to the late onset of rainfall.

The output contraction was also the effect of the occurrence of berry borer, as well as the cutting of less productive and old trees and shifting from coffee to cacao production in some areas.